


Technically

by orphan_account



Series: Technically [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-17
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 17:33:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sollux Captor, a 22 year old living with his best friend in an apartment, works as a sound technician for a very strict boss, Dave Strider. Said boss happens to be deliciously sexy, but kind of a douche.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got an AO3 account!! Let's hope the wait was worth it. <3  
> And yes, if you can't tell by the tags, Sollux whores around a little in this oops.  
> (I cant help being a Solluxsexual)

  
Overcast, 62°F, wind chill makes it feel 56°F. Overall, a near ideal day for the twenty-two year old techie whose steps scuffed over the pavement in mismatched shoes. Small wisps of smoke found their way out of his slightly parted lips, the swirling gray fog sweeping away in the light bursts of wind that caused the thin frame to shiver.

  
A light jacket guarded him from the cold, but it was in vain- the man was quite thin and tall, but with small amounts of muscle that proved he was still, at least, a man. And although he was very thankful to not be short like his best friend, sometimes he was positive that his roomie probably stayed much warmer in the cool late-September weather.

  
He brought his cigarette up to his lips, took a drag, stopped walking. He stood near a tall tree with a small bench on its right, parallel to the road. He dropped the butt of the cigarette, and crushed it with a zig-zagged sole. His heterochromatic gaze drifted up to the yellowing leaves of the tree, before slowly dragging down to a barely-recognizable carving.

  
SC+KV BFF 1997

  
A smile tugged at his lips, and he stepped over, reaching up and running his calloused fingertips over the rough bark, tracing the indentations. A whole fourteen years had passed since he and his best friend had carved this after a fun outing. He remembered the day with vivid detail, and every time he did it made him feel a tiny flicker of affection, of nostalgia.

  
He loitered for a few moments longer, lost in memory, until a vibration from his pocket jerked him from his reverie.

  
"HEY. WHERE ARE YOU."

  
His smile widened a bit, exposing tiny, sharp canine teeth.

  
"ii'm ju2t out for a walk, don't lo2e your 2hiit. ii'll be back 2oon, ok? ii ju2t wanted 2ome aiir and a 2moke."

  
He started to put his phone back in his pocket and turn around, but another vibration stopped him in his tracks.

  
"OK. HURRY, BECAUSE THAT RECORDING COMPANY CALLED YOU BACK. THEY'VE GOT A JOB FOR YOU."

  
He re-read the message several times, excitement bubbling in his chest.

  
"holy 2hiit 2eriiou2ly? fuckiing awe2ome, ii'll head back now."

  
"COOL. BUT HEY, THEY SAID TO WARN YOU THE GUY THEY WANT YOU TO RUN LEVELS FOR IS REALLY STRICT ABOUT HOW SHIT IS DONE. SOUNDED LIKE A MAJOR FUCKING PAIN IN THE ASS TO ME."

  
"oh come on kk, you undere2tiimate me. ii won't giive hiim anythiing two complaiin about. diid they giive a name?"

  
"DAVE STRIDER."

"2ound2 liike a 2tereotypiical douchebag name. tru2t me, ii'll be fiine. ii'll quiickly 2how hiim ii won't take hii2 2hiit."

  
"YEAH WELL, I'M GLAD YOU'LL BE GETTING AN ACTUAL FUCKING STEADY SOURCE OF INCOME. NOW I WON'T HAVE TO HOLD OUR BROKE ASSES AFLOAT BY SPENDING 6 DAYS A WEEK SELLING CANDY AND POPCORN TO PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE BUYING DIET FUCKING AIR."

  
"yup. we'll have two celebrate <3."

  
He started walking back towards his home, his apartment, that he shared with his best friend, the one he had been with through thick and thin, been with since they were both just little kids.

  
"I'M UP FOR SOME CELEBRATION. SO HURRY THE FUCK UP. <3"

  
Maybe they blurred the lines of 'best friend' and 'fuckbuddy' a little.


	2. Rhythm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The smell hit him first- it is crisp and clean. Electronic. And it's comforting.  
> But especially comforting is the ensemble before him. A wide grin crosses his face. Oh, yes. This is gonna be good.

First day, and he's not one single bit nervous. He strode inside the same as any other place: sort of slouched, gangly arms and legs working in sync while he moved. Past the front desk. To the back- he had toured here a couple weeks ago, prepping for his first day and all that silly shit.  
And finally, he swung the door open to the studio that he'd be working in from here on out.   
The smell hit him first- it is crisp and clean. Electronic. And it's comforting.  
But especially comforting is the ensemble before him. A wide grin crosses his face. Oh, yes. This is gonna be good.

"Oh, uh, h-hello, I guess you must be, Sollux?" A similarly gangly figure slowly crept up behind the new "tech stooge" (this is what Dave has resorted to calling them), one that was currently fiddling uncertainly with the zipper of his jacket and worrying at his lip.

"My name is, uh, Tavros. I'm an intern? And, um, Dave wanted me to let you know that, he was going to be a little late, maybe, because... well, uh, he didn't exactly tell me, but, he said to get everything set up maybe?" Tavros was the epitome of uncertainty, from his submissive stance to the way he was literally incapable of stringing together a sentence.

Sollux give a little snort, looking him over behind his glasses. Wow. This kid was a strung-out piece of work.  
"That'th fine," he said. God, this kid was an intern? Well, at least he would get a laugh every day.   
"Show me the way, fearleth leader."

"Uh, I'm not really, your leader, or anything, even similar, but, I can show you to your, um, station..." The smaller man's adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, and he slipped by Sollux to guide him to the soundboard.   
"This is your, uh, 'station', where you um, do the recording, and the mixing, and stuff. You're also supposed to, um, handle all the equipment and technical things, too, so, you'll be expected to know how to do that, too..."   
He trailed off, and his face looked strained, as if he was scrambling for something else to explain.   
"I should probably mention, uh, Dave is, really really strict, in the way that, his beats are strict, but also, how they are mixed, so, um, you'll have to be, really careful not to upset him, or anything..."

Sollux listened to him explain things- it's all elementary to him. He knew all of this shit. But he nodded his head anyway, drinking in his words. He was moreso paying attention to the poor kid's stutter. Until he starts talking about the boss that is.  
His eyes swiveled to stare at the kid's face. Strict, huh? Strict beats. Man, if that wasn't rehearsed...  
"Hm. Thoundth like a challenge," he mumbled under his breath.

"But, uh, Dave isn't all bad, or anything, he's, really cool, like, totally cool, and stuff..." His words faded as his voice cracked, and a pale blush threatened his cheeks.   
"Uh, a-anyways, that's all you really need to know, for right now, so if you want to, um, set things u-"

"Getting things set up would be a good start, and he could have had that done twenty minutes ago if you would stop stuttering and get a damn sentence out Tav."   
The new arrival into the studio walked with what was the textbook definition of 'swag', and punctuated his sentence with an arm lazily draped over the intern's shoulders.   
"Dave Strider. You must be my new recording engineer."

"Tholluxth Captor," he replied, sticking out a thin hand.  
Wow. This kid looked like a huge tool and Sollux was fighting with all of his strength not to laugh. But, at the same time..  
Eyes wandered over the bridge of his nose. Freckles. Sollux's biggest fucking weakness.  
"And, you got it." He flashed a wide grin.

Dave looked as though he was straining to hear over Tavros's unintelligable stammering at the contact on his shoulder, but he accepted the handshake and dismissed the intern with nothing more than a slight tip of his head towards the door.

"Lets hope you're not total shit like every other engineer I've been 'graced' with thus far. I'm like a goddamn magnet for people whose only experience in recording was a tape recorder for their shitty garage band in the eighties. Sorry folks, but we're looking for something better than a screechy rendition of Metallica on your dads old guitar."  
Dave stuffed his hands in his pockets, his words coming out smoothly and easily, as if every sentence was sculpted perfectly in his mind before it passed his slightly pursed lips.

Sollux couldn't help a laugh. Wow, this kid had a way with words.  
"I've never worked with anyone professionally," he said in all honesty. But he were still fucking good at what he did. This would be a piece of cake- work wouldn't be work. It would not be tedious for him.   
"But I know how to handle all of thith, if that'th what you mean."

"Good, then I won't have to schoolfeed you the details and we can get straight to the recording. Show me what you've got, tech stooge, and I'll do the same."

Dave headed into the isolation booth, grabbing a headset and holding it up to one ear, oddly enough keeping his dark shades on even in the dimly-lit room. He was mumbling quietly to himself, probably running over the lines.

Sollux sat down- the chair was plush and his nerves were on end with excitement. He bit down on his tongue to force away the smile that begged to creep across his face.  
Before giving Dave the okay his fingers acquainted themselves with the various dials, buttons and knobs. Everything was right where he wanted it.  
He gave Dave a thumbs up, leaning into the mic and holding his finger down on the   
appropriate key to talk to him.

"Ready when you are."

A curt nod was the only signal Dave gave to show that he was ready for the music to start. His eyes shut behind the dark shades as the beat started, and he brought himself close to the mic, his foot tapping to prepare himself- 1, 2, 3, 4...

And he was off, words flowing off his tongue in perfect rhythm with the music, his body moving subtly along with the music and the metaphors he strung along in his rhymes. He was impressive, to say the least, and he obviously knew what he was doing.

Sollux couldn't help but smirk a little bit as his fingers flew decisively over panels, buttons- this was his keyboard. It was a completely different language and one he was decadently fluent in.  
Dave's flow was, indeed, impressive. One half of his mind worked his fingers, whilst the other half listened to the words he said.  
Apparently this tool had a heart, too. Surpise!

Dave stayed on beat and on time, although his expression was in contrast to the emotion in his rhymes- he kept deadpan, a perfect poker face, giving away nothing.   
Tavros, meanwhile, watched through the windowed door with awe, a smile on his face as he was completely entranced in the blonde boy's movements. His gaze also, at times, looked over at Sollux, watching his fingers move at an equally impressive speed as Dave's lips, but if was obvious which point of focus was his favorite.

It ended smoothly and quickly- they were both... well... perfect. Sollux smiled as he faded the beat out crisply and leaned back in the chair, folding his hands over his stomach.  
He quirked a brow to Dave inside the booth and gave him a smirk, just a little sliver of his pearly teeth peeking through his pink lips. But, ah, what's this? His eyes flickered to catch sight of Tavros standing outside,   
eyeing Dave hungrily.  
Well, well, well...

Dave returned the headset to a cable-covered stool in the booth, and headed back out the door, his face never moving from it's perfectly emotionless expression. He pretended not to notice as Tavros found something that desperately needed his immediate attention on the floor, and trained his shaded gaze on his new engineer.   
"Not bad."

"I can thay the thame for yourthelf," Sollux says coolly. It was the truth- Dave was good. But there was something about him that frustrated Sollux. Made him curious.  
His face had been void of any emotion since the moment Sollux had met him. THat, to him, was... intruiging and infuriating at the same time.  
And in that moment Sollux made a vow to milk him of any emotion he could.

Dave finally acknowledged Tavros beckoning him in with one finger, and leaning over to whisper something to him. Tav stammered something what was so warped it couldn't have possibly been English, and scurried off.

"Maybe I'll keep you around for a while." He gave the statement the inflection that he was doing Sollux a favor, and emphasized it by reaching over and giving his hair a light tousle.   
"Nothing more to do today, I've got shit to take care of so you wrap things up here alright? Thanks, you're a doll." He gave no other sort of goodbye, only pivoted and headed out the door.

That... had thrown Sollux for a loop. After a minute of staring into space he finally reached up and readjusted his hair and stood. This would not do.

He stayed for about a half an hour, cleaning and moving things around to his liking. If this was going to be his station, it would be the way he wanted it.  
Dammit, he already wanted it to be tomorrow.   
Nothing more to do? Welp. Nothing better than to go home.

\----------

The door swung open loudly at almost exactly 10:15PM, right on schedule. It was closed with the same amount of force, followed by muffled curses and the discarding of a jacket to the floor.   
"Hey fuckass, where are you?" A tired, slightly scratchy voice resonated throughout the apartment, as the short figure took a few steps further into the carpeted room.

Sollux rinsed out his toothbrush, spitting the remnants of the toothpaste in the sink and cleaning up.

"In here, idiot," He calls back before striding out of the bathroom. His hair is damp and sticking out in various places and he's not wearing his glasses- one eye is blue, the other is green. He is in fourth of july boxers and nothing else.   
"Wath today better than yethterday?" Sollux asks Karkat, plopping lazily down on the couch.

"Yeah sure, if you consider having to not fucking laugh out loud as a 300lb woman gets a diet Dr. Pepper better than having to clean up some kid's regurgitated Skittles."   
Karkat scowled darkly, sitting down next to Sollux and nabbing the remote. "This is fucking mine for the night, I will have a rage-induced aneurysm if I am forced to think about that movie theatre or that fucking hyperactive asshole of a co-worker for another second." He flicked through the channels, settling on How I Met Your Mother with little regard to what Sollux thought of it.  
"How was your first day?"

"Fine," Sollux sighed. He adjusted himself to rest his head on Karkat's leg. This was normal for them- touching. Holding. Kissing. Fucking- whatever they felt like.

"Bothh ith kind of a tool," He shrugs. "But he'th got freckleth." He smirked before looking up at Karkat and sidling his head fully into his lap.  
"Intern ith a fuckin' methh though."

Karkat set the remote down and carded his fingers through Sollux's still-wet hair, his mood seeming to improve slightly at least.   
"Freckles? So it's safe to assume you've already started concocting a plan to fuck him in the studio?" He let out a snort of amusement, his russet eyes trained on the flickering TV screen.

Sollux can't help but chuckle and he closes his eyes at the sensation of soft fingers on his scalp. He lets out a little hum.  
"Not sure yet," he says honestly.   
Dave was pretty fuckin' sexy, he'd have to admit. But whether or not he was a huge prick was still unknown to him. Sollux didn't like assholes- Of course, there was Karkat. But he was different. There were times like these, when he was a normal fucking person, when his fingers made his body tingle and his heart flutter- that excused his asshattery.

"Why, because of him being a tool? Like that's ever stopped you before. You've dated plenty of fucking tools. Your love life is synonymous to a tool box, Sollux. I don't know if I should be offended that you care about me, because that's probably a subliminal way of you calling me an enormous douchebag."   
He let out a deep breath, and shifted Sollux's head slightly in his lap to make it more comfortable on him.   
"But I guess it's better that you do care, that way when I murder John fucking Egbert I have someone who can help me hide the body and provide an alibi."

Sollux lets out a hearty laugh at this and reaches up to flick at Karkat's ear.  
"Care about you? Hah. I gueth that'th a way to put it. But, yeth, I will be more than happy. Hell I'd even kill him mythelf."

"Thanks for the sentiment, but murdering that fuckass is something that I would need to do myself in some sort of sacred ritual. There would be lit candles and hooded robes. The works."   
Karkat offered a small, crooked smirk, before mumbling, "I should shower and get ready for another day of fucking work tomorrow."

"Yeah," Sollux sighed before sitting up with a small groan. Why was he so tired?   
"I gueth I'm gonna go...I dunno, thit in bed until I fall athleep."   
He leaned to place a palm on either side of Karkat's body, giving him a full kiss before standing up, rubbing the back of his head absentmindedly.

Karkat stood up after him, turning to wrap his arms around the taller man and press a soft kiss to his collarbone.   
"I wish I could tell you work gets less shitty, but judging from the amount of candy-laden vomit I clean out of theaters weekly, I would be lying my ass off." He let out a quiet sigh, nuzzling the clean, fresh scented skin of his best friend before pulling away to go shower.

God. Fuck, just when he was getting cute.  
Sollux smiled and watched him slink away, comforted by the small click that followed him. Damn that boy. Confused him way too much.  
Giving a little 'hmph' he started off towards his bedroom, planning on doing basically... nothing, until sleep overcame him.


	3. Like That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux's eyes snapped up to Karkat's- blue and brown and swimming with lust.  
> Good God Karkat did things to him that one on on this whole entire fucking planet could. He knew is quirks, his kinks- he knew everything. And he used it to both of their advantages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part 2!!! smutty hehehehe....
> 
> "i thought you said this was a soldave story"
> 
> "IT IS GET OFF MY BACK FLIPS TABLE SCREAMS"

The studio was eerily silent- very few people actually came in on Sundays, but Dave had nothing better to fill his time with.

Of course, while he was waiting for his recording engineer, he wasn't just going to sit around and do NOTHING.

"D-Dave, uh, this was like, totally one hundred thousand percent ok when, um, you didn't have a recording guy, but- n-nh- you do, a-and, he's going to be here, like, a-any minute-"  
Tavros was silenced by the pink lips pressed up against his, eyes flicking between the hand that was on the wall by his head and the shades hiding the eyes of the man, his superior, that had him in the same position as every Sunday prior. Tavros decided to not attempt complaining again.

\---

Get up. Brush teeth, hair, get dressed. Say goodbye- tiny makeout session- out the door. Drive. Drive. Park. Get out. Down the hallway. Left. Door is on the right.

Sollux rubs his face with his free hand, the other on the knob of the studio and he sighs, pushing it open.  
Something... wait, what the fuck? There is the sound of tongues moving, breath hitching, lips smacking and holy shit.  
His face flushes a deep pink and his eyes widen behind his glasses.

"Oh, fuck," he says aloud before closing the door.

Dave pulled back, wiping his mouth and tipping his head towards the door. Tavros was momentarily stunned in place, watching Dave with a slight tremble to his lower lip, until finally the blonde realized he wasn't registering the gesture.

"You're dismissed Tav," Dave said with one eyebrow cocked. Finally the intern let out a stuttered apology and absconded, fixing his disarrayed shirt and speeding past Sollux with his face on fire.  
Dave caught the door before it closed and leaned in the doorway, hands fisted in his pockets and face still slightly flushed.  
"Ready to get to work?" His voice and expression were as infuriatingly even as always, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Uh..." Sollux blinked into Dave's visage, one hand on the strap of his lime green backpack.  
"Yeah," he said quietly.  
Holy fuck. He could tell that Tavros wanted Dave. But he had no fucking idea that... they were messing around.

"Cool." Dave headed into the dimly lit room, smoothing down his hair.  
"I was thinking of redoing that take from yesterday, listening back over it I got a different inflection at the second line of the refrain that I want to change. Sound good?" He bent down and picked up Tav's jacket that he had left and tossed it casually into the corner.

Sollux shakes stupid thoughts out of his head. Today had so far gotten off to an odd start and that would stick with him for the rest of the day.  
"Um. Yeah, that'th cool."

Dave's face flickered slightly with amusement, and the cocked his head at Sollux. "What, is Tav's stutter contagious? Or are you thinking that picking up his inability to speak would make me want you?"  
His tone was smooth but laden with tease.

"Sorry babe, there's only room for one stuttering fool in my life, so you're gonna have to fill another quota." He picked a water bottle off the messy table that was up against the right wall and raised it to his lips, talking a drink while keeping his face in the recording engineer's direction.

"No! That wath jutht... a little weird to walk in on, that'th all."  
He sighed, plopping down in a plush rolling chair, letting his bag down gently onto the floor.  
He rested his cheek on one fist, making a face and narrowing his eyes.  
"Either you're preying on that poor little kid or you actually like him," Sollux says observantly. "The firtht one would lead me to believe you're a pretty big tool."

Oops.

Dave's eyebrow poised perfectly up to express his surprise, due to the rest of his face being set in stone.  
"Mmm, sorry, I forgot it was my job to impress the guy who's working for me. I'll read my job duties a little closer next time, fucking scrutinize that shit so I don't make such a glaring faux pas."

The sarcasm was practically palpable from his voice, and he tossed his head back to finish the rest of the water bottle.  
"Now if you're done analyzing the intentions of me ravaging my intern, can you actually do what you're getting paid to do?"

OhmyGOD.  
And thus, his day was ruined. Sollux knew better than to say that, but, fuck. That was the other side of him talking.  
With a huff he threw his hands up in the air, wiping the barage of nasty sentences from his mind. Him and his stupid fucking cuteass freckles. What the hell ever.

"Fine, leth'th do thith then."

"Good boy." Dave tossed the water bottle to Sollux and then headed into the isolation booth, ready to start the show. He gave Sollux a thumbs up to indicate he was ready for the music, and pressed the headphones to his ear in preparation.

Sollux scowled, tossing the water bottle to the ground.  
Already he was planning out the conversation he was going to have with Karkat tonight about today. Not thirty minutes into it and it was complete shit.  
He didn't have to think about what his fingers should be doing- they worked methodically. Mechanically, even.  
He gave a thumbs up to Dave, starting the music.

Dave counted out the beats, head starting to bob ever-so-slightly to the rhythm, and just as the day before, words began to spill from his mouth, perfectly on time and perfectly executed. However, around halfway through the song, Rainbow Veins started up from the man's pocket, causing him to tug down the headphones and signal for Sollux to cut the music.

Owl City? Seriously? Sollux let out a loud laugh and was glad that Dave couldn't hear him even after he cut the music. Wow, this kid was a bucket full of surprises.

Dave pulled out a neon pink cell phone and brought it to his ear, talking for a few minutes with a blank expression before putting the phone away and heading out of the booth.  
"Bad news tech stooge, my buddy John needs a ride home so we're gonna have to cut this short. I'll pay you for the whole session, no big deal." He dropped the headphones on the table and grabbed his jacket, stuffing his arms into the sleeves.

"The fuck..." Not that he's complaining about being paid for a full day (and yesterday) for coming into work for fifteen minutes but damn...

"Alright, I gueth." Sollux stood and stretched, heaving his bag over his shoulder and heading for the door. He grabbed the knob, holding it open and signals for Dave to go first. "Fleath before beauty." He smirks.

"How chivalrous, I'm fucking swooning over here Captor." He headed out of the dim room and out towards the main entrance, before turning on his heel and stopping Sollux.  
"Oh, hey, give me your number." He went over to the front desk and grabbed a piece of paper- it looked important, but he didn't give a single fuck- and a pen, handing it to him.  
"Gotta be able to get a hold of you if I need to."

Sollux snatched up the pen and paper, using the door to write. He kept it propped open with his foot as he scrawled in his messy handwriting and handed both of them back.  
"Here," he said flatly.

He neatly folded up the paper- it was some sort of legal document, so yeah, important- and stuffed it in his pocket. "See you tomorrow Captor." He tossed the pen in the general direction of the front desk and headed out the door, climbing into his car and driving off.

\----------

Karkat wasn't home when Sollux got there, and he's kind of disappointed. He's tense, and eager for small fingers to knead at his back, to touch his hair. To hear grumpy bitching. Anything to get his mind off of today.

So Sollux waited, sitting in front of the television, for him to get home.  
His mind keeps going back to the way he saw Dave's jaw moving steadily, decisively as he tongued Tavros's mouth and why was he even thinking about this shit?  
Why couldn't he get it off of his mind?

Karkat swung open the door violently- more violently than usual, that is- and slammed it shut with a low growl. He was several hours early for when he /should have gotten off, and judging by his expression something had gone down.  
"Stupid fucking dumbass hyperactive shitstain!" He stormed over to the couch and flopped down on it face-first, laying carelessly over Sollux's legs.

"Oh!" Sollux is genuinely surprised at the face-down person in his lap. He can practically feel the rage seeping from Karkat as he rests a hand on the back of his messy hair.  
"Hey," he says blearily. "Bad day?"  
One hand worked through Karkat's locks while the other one rubbed up and down his back.  
Sometimes this comforts Karkat. Other times, it irritates him. Sollux isn't sure which one of those days it's going to be.

Karkat let out a small growl in reply, too pissed to fight Sollux's hands off.  
"Ding ding, Sollux Captor has just spoken the leading contender for understatement of the FUCKING year."  
He let out a drawn out sigh, and then nodded to the best of his capability.

"John was trying to tell me I was stacking the fucking Heath bars wrong so I shoved him into the popcorn maker and we both got sent home early. But that fucker already knew I was in a bad mood from having to clean the goddamn mens room. Sollux, what is it about public bathrooms that makes everybody decide HEY, LET'S FORGET EVERYTHING ABOUT FUCKING EVOLUTION AND START FLINGING SHIT AT THE WALLS LIKE CAGED APES?"

Sollux planted his hands on either of Karkat's cheeks, squishing them just enough to make him chuckle a little bit.  
"Hey. Breathe." He kissed his perfectly puckered lips once before letting go and giving him a soft pat on his shoulders.  
"Lookth like we both had pretty shitty dayth," he sighed as he lay back on the couch, Karkat now between Sollux and the couch's back. With one hand, Sollux lightly kneaded at Karkat's temples.

Karkat inhaled and exhaled shakily, closing his eyes and then reopening them once he had regained composure.  
"What happened that made your day shitty?" He shifted a little closer, feeling comforted by the warmth. "More of your boss being an enormous tool?"

"Yeah," he said via sigh. "It... wath really fuckin' weird though."  
He explained to Karkat with his eyes closed, still tracing shapes along Karkat's temples, about the morning.  
Walking in on Dave and Tavros. Slipping up and basically calling his boss out on him being kind of an ass, and then the flippant remarks he had recieved. Dave was the worst kind of person- cocky. Self-absorbed. But fuck he... kind of stayed on his mind more than he should.

"Fuck, I'm sorry." Karkat gently nuzzled into Sollux's chest, taking deep, even breaths. "I guess we both did have shitty days. But..."  
He brought his lips up to his neck and gave it a very soft kiss, fingers kneading into his shirt.  
"We could make things at least a little better."

Sollux smiled, closing his eyes at the mouth on his neck.  
Karkat was just as bipolar as he was himself. They clashed a lot. But they also... worked, too.  
Sollux moved his leg, shifting it between Karkat's legs, riding up as high as he could go. As angry as he was, he felt the need to be gentle now. Slow. Light. With a barely-there touch his thumb glided along Karkat's cheek.  
"Mmm, we could, yeah. I'm perfectly okay with thith plan."

Karkat let out a small hum of approval, planting a few more kisses against his best friend's neck, each with a little more pressure and suction than the last.  
"Good, because it was going to fucking happen anyways." He smirked gently and dragged his blunt teeth over the thin layer of skin over Sollux's pulse, exhaling deeply onto the now saliva-moist skin.

"Tho I have no choithe?" Sollux asked, grabbing at Karkat's hips. With a little bit of shuffling he had moved him to sit atop his lap, hands still at his hips. His fingers kneaded softly there.  
"I think thith hath to be conthensual or it'th illegal, KK." Still, he tilts his head back to expose his throat for Karkat. He makes a little noise when he feels his teeth because god that's one of his favorite sensations in the world.

"And us talking about murdering my dumbass failure of a co-worker is totally legal? Besides..." He brought his face up to Sollux's and gave him a lengthy, wet kiss, "I know you like the back of my hand, you totally want this."  
His hands rested on Sollux's chest and then slid down, slipping under the fabric of his shirt and pushing it up to his breastbone.

Sollux wondered what Karkat thought about him. He really did. Because beyond the fucking, the kisses and touching and emotional oil spills, there had to be feelings. Many a time Sollux had thought about how he actually felt about Karkat and that was... complicated. Feelings were there, but they weren't. Shit, friendship like this was too hard once it went on for so long. And they had been doing this for a long, long time.

Sollux sat up for a minute, shrugging his shirt off and attacking Karkat's mouth. A few innocent kisses lead to his tongue kneading beneath Karkat's tongue and biting at his lower lip, pulling him back down as he worked his nimble fingers at Karkat's belt.  
"You're right," he breathed. "I do."

Karkat let the corners of his mouth twitch into a slight smile, and he attended to pulling his own shirt up and off as Sollux took care of his belt. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized he must smell overwhelmingly like movie theater popcorn and Sno-Caps, but he focused more on running his tongue over the shell of his best friend's ear, and then dropping down a tad to nibble on his earlobe.  
"Told you," He murmured raspily.

Sollux hissed at the nip to his earlobe, grinning as he bit down on his lower lip. With Karkat's pants undone he slipped his hand inside, rubbing through the thin material of his boxers.  
"Mmm you alwayth know jutht what I want, it theemth," Sollux murmured.

Karkat let out a small mixture of a hum and a whine, but either way it amounted to a needy sound that he immediately cursed himself for.  
"Yeah, well I could say the fucking same for you," He mumbled absently, taking the soft skin between his lips and suckling on it, while making sure to continue the soft nibbles that he immediately salved over with his tongue despite how gentle they were.

Sollux was a talker. Anything he could do to keep Karkat speaking whilst touching, kissing, fucking. He would do it.  
He especially liked hearing Karkat talk dirty.  
Working his hand eagerly, he continued to tease through the material while his other hand laced down Karkat's back and pushed him- this encouraged a soft twitch of his hips which moved Karkat harder into Sollux's palm.

Karkat grumbled lowly in pleasure, but it was mingled with impatience.  
"I know my boxers are the m-most fucking enticing poly-cotton blend but that is not where your fucking attention needs to be right now." His fingers softly kneaded against Sollux's shoulders, irritably aware of the pink blush lighting his cheeks.

Sollux sneered and nudged Karkat to sit up. His touches grew lighter then- barely there.  
"Tell me what to do," he mumbled up at his best friend.

"Oh god are you fucking serious, are we going to get into your freaky talking fetish?" Karkat let out a low sigh of half-hearted annoyance. He would never admit it, but he liked what the talking did to Sollux, even if it was embarassing to endure.  
"What do I usually want you to do fuckass? Exactly that. Fuck ass."

"Mmm, there we go," Sollux chuckled. His hand slid out of Karkat's pants, instead yanking them down... just enough. God, in all honesty he was hard as a fucking rock and there was no hiding the tent in his pants. He reached around Karkat, bucking his hips upward to undo his pants. However, it wasn't working out.  
He quirked an eyebrow up at Karkat.  
Your turn.

Karkat gave Sollux a tiny, biting kiss and a growl of defiance, but contrary to that he brought his fingers down to skillfully undo his pants, perhaps taking a little longer than necessary at the pressure he felt against the zipper- if Sollux was going to make him talk, he was going to get at least a little revenge.

"Hnnn," Was all Sollux said. Once Karkat had been properly rid of his pants he dipped down, licking up from the hilt of his member to his belly button, nipping at the skin as he kissed his way back down.  
He gave hard sucks, all around the root of it and licking the soft skin at the spaces between it and Karkat's legs.

Karkat twitched desperately, trying get at least some sort of stimulation to his achingly neglected length. "God fucking damnit Sollux s-stop that," He hissed, starting to pant softly and let out quiet whimpers.  
"T-That's- ngh- not fair," He growled, resolving to hate himself later for being so needy.

"I warned you," Sollux breathes. The very tip of his tongue flicks out, going along the length of Karkat's bulge, toying at the very tip for an achingly short moment. He grins up at Karkat, giving him a wink.

Karkat let out a soft, drawn-out moan at the contact, only to glare down at his best friend when he stopped.  
"I swear to fucking God I-I will get up and go take c-care of this myself in the shower if you don't put your mouth on me right now jesus fuck."  
He squirmed, knowing his threat was completely empty. There was no way he was going to choose his hand over Sollux. He never had before when he had been teased this way, and he wasn't going to start now.

Sollux let out a light laugh, tonguing the head of Karkat's bulge and guiding it to his lips. For a moment, he let out a few small sucks there, his tongue slipping across the slit there before taking him fully into his mouth.  
It was a pleasant pressure in his mouth, filling and stretching his jaw. His fingers kneaded into the soft skin of Karkat's inner thighs and he bobbed his head ever-so-  
slowly.  
He loved it when Karkat got so needy that it pissed him off.

Karkat let out a pleased groan, his head going back slightly as he arched up into the warm heat. "Fucking f-finally," He managed, panting quietly and looking down at Sollux with parted lips.  
"You look fucking hot with my dick in your mouth, by the way."  
Karkat hated dirty talk, he really did- he preferred more romantic, sentimental, romcom-esque pillow talk, but he could humor Sollux. If not only for making the man more inclined to please him.

Sollux squeezed his eyes shut and let out a little noise, Karkat's words sending a hard throb to the aching space between his legs. The blunt ends of his teeth lightly scraped along his skin and he sucked harder, tongue lolling around the flesh in his mouth.  
His lips came from around it, and his tongue moved as he spoke from the corners of his mouth.  
"Yeguth fuck, KK- yourghe drifin me inshane."

Karkat let out an airy moan, hips bucking up slightly to Sollux's mouth.  
"FUCK- I know the feeling," He managed in a strained voice, letting out quiet hums- he definitely liked what the talking got him. So he would keep talking.

"Ngh, Sollux, sometimes I swear the thought of getting back here and f-fucking you senseless is the only- ah- thing that keeps me from going apeshit at work, nhhhhh.."

Sollux let out another choke, this one louder than the last. And, fuck, he can't just sit here and freaking whine with Karkat's dick in his mouth. He sighed, reaching into his own pants and huffing when he takes hold of himself. He worked both his mouth and his hand at relatively the same pace.

The smaller boy let out another delicious moan, his back arching slightly off the couch as he kneads his fingers tightly into the cushions.  
"Fuck Sollux I-" He cut off and let out a hungry whine, followed by a few quiet pants, "Shit."

Dammit he can't take this anymore. Sollux raised his head with one hard suck and a lick to the head of Karkat's bulge as he withdrew his hands from his pants.  
"Keep goin'," he asks, voice is heavy and laced with hunger, "or you wanna get thith fuckin' show on the road?"

"Let's fucking do this goddamnit," Karkat looked down at Sollux, his cheeks flushed a rich scarlet and his eyes heavy-lidded. He looked as impatient as ever, but considerably less angry than he had earlier- with good reason.

Karkat didn't have to say another word before Sollux hanked his pants down just enough to expose himself. He reached forward and dug his fingers into the thick flesh at Karkat's sides and gripped hard enough to bruise as he pulled his ass against him. He groaned at the contact, his hips twitching in anticipation.

Karkat let out a small yelp of surprise and pain, but relaxed again as he heard Sollux's groan- Fuck, it was fantastic.

"Jesus Captor," He breathed, but it was completely void of annoyance. He looked up at his friend, hungry, wanting, needing at this point.  
And he knew exactly, literally exactly what he needed to say at this moment. It was probably the least romantic thing one could say, but he knew it would drive Sollux literally batshit insane.

"Fuck me."

Sollux's eyes snapped up to Karkat's- blue and brown and swimming with lust.  
Good God Karkat did things to him that one on on this whole entire fucking planet could. He knew is quirks, his kinks- he knew everything. And he used it to both of their advantages.  
He lifted Karkat's hips and rotated his own. This was the usual routine- no prep. No lube. Skin on skin. Natural. Rough and how they liked it best.

Sollux let out a long, drawn sigh and bit down on his lower lip hard enough that it hurt him but fuck, sensation was swimming through his veins and his heart was pounding so hard in his chest.

Karkat replied to the movement with a low hiss, the sting immediate as always, but he was used to it, and he knew it was even fucking better once he got used to it. He made no attempt to move yet, doing so would only ensure more discomfort. He had to trust that Sollux would do this right- and he knew that he would. Sollux knew exactly how to move and when to move to make it perfect.  
This thought always brought up uncomfortable thoughts (Why are they only friends? Is it weird to be able to do this without things being awkward? Why does he even bother not making this official if Sollux knew everything he liked/?) but he always shoved them into the recesses of his mind to obsess over at a later date- and maybe at some point, he could actually discuss them.  
But now? Now was not the time.

Sollux hadn't realized that he was holding his breath until the third thrust- slow and gentle- and he let out a little sigh. It was easier to move now, too.  
He moved to rest one forearm on the couch, sidling it beneath Karkat's back while the other hand is busy grabbing onto his thigh as he moves.  
Sollux sank his face into Karkat's neck and panted open-mouthed there, his tongue lolling naturally from his mouth just a bit.

"Have I ever, mm, told you," he started. "You're the betht fuck- ah- I've ever had?"

"You don't- ngh- need to, I fucking know I am," Karkat managed roughly, starting to let out quiet, strained moans as the pain started to fade into pleasure.  
"Tell me- f-fuck- who else could possible fucking know," He paused and then rolled his hips in time with Sollux's next thrust, "how much you- ahhh- like that?"

This happens every single time, but it still takes Sollux's breath away. Karkat could do this for eternity and it would never, never be too much. His breath hitches and he lets out a loud, choked groan.  
The hand resting beneath Karkat's back lead Sollux's arm to loop around his middle and he now cradled Karkat close against him, leaving almost no space between him. It made for a kind of awkward position, but there was just enough room for them both to roll their hips.  
They weren't really thrusts, so much as they were like waves. Smooth transitions from in to out and in again.

Karkat nuzzled weakly into Sollux, panting and relishing in the closeless and the warmth and the sounds and most of fucking all, Sollux's skin pressed up against his in a near-intoxicating way that made him wonder what the fucking point of ever leaving his embrace was.  
"Shit, Sollux, n-ngh," He managed, wishing he had the state of mind to say what he was actually thinking.

"I like it," Sollux panted. "When you hold onto me, mm, like this."  
He was admitting the truth. He liked all dimensions of Karkat- pissy. Bitchy. Douchey. But there was also a side of him that was tender and needy. He especially liked it when Karkat was needy.  
Like now- he was reveling in the little pants and huffs that traveled into his ear. Each one sent shivers down his spine.

Karkat gripped Sollux a little tighter, his voice failing him and coming out as a whisper, "Like that?"  
He moaned more audibly as if punctuation to his question.

Like that. That brought back a weird memory of when he was training John, and he had to teach the fucking moron how to use the soda sprayer.

Oh my god you incompetent piece of worthless shit that I am likely going to have to clean off the fucking wall later. This is probably the easiest goddamn job I can give you.

Okay, wait, like this?

No, John, when the soda comes out that means you've committed a truly unforgivable act. Yes, fuckass, like that.

Why was he thinking about JOHN right now? No, fuck, no. Sollux. Sollux is who he should be thinking about right now.

"Yeth. Jutht like that, mm." Sollux kept moving fluidly along with Karkat, wanting to hear more. It wasn't right how turned on the talking made him, but he wasn't going to question it right now. His lips smeared across Karkat's cheek until their mouths molded together.  
"Ngh, Karkat. Tell me," He murmured in a raspy tone, "you want me inthide- ah- when it happenth."

Karkat was moaning and panting hungrily, desperately, and he wanted Sollux to give him more- more, harder, faster, deeper, louder, everything. And he knew that talking was the key to getting what he desired, as with every time they fucked.  
"Ngh, yes, fuck." He pressed a sloppy kiss to his lips and continued, "I want you in as, mm, deep as you fucking can when you come."

Sollux complied eagerly, pushing in deeply and no longer trying to stop the groans that escaped his throat.  
When he came he was quiet, save for a small grunt at the start, pushed in to the hilt and feeling warmth seep around his length as he released into his best friend.

Karkat finished only a fraction of a second later, but he was much more vocal, bucking and moaning and panting, trying to bite down on Sollux's shoulder to quiet himself.  
When finally he lay back he was still trembling in the wake of the orgasm, gasping to recapture his breath. When he finally trusted himself to speak, he wished he hadn't from the loaded phrase that slipped out.  
"I love you."

Sollux looked down at him, momentarily taken by surprise.  
"I love you too," He said truthfully. He did love Karkat, as his best friend, and as his fuckbuddy. Yeah, they played around and said they loved each other, but never after sex- it made things too real.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't mean to make this all fucking awkward." Karkat nuzzled into Sollux anyways, as if he stuck decisively to his words despite regretting them.

Sollux shook his head and pressed a kiss to Karkat's forehead, not making any move to pull away from his grip. Or pull out of his ass. Whatever.  
"It'th fine, KK."

Karkat shifted uncomfortably- Sollux was still in him, and it was kinda turning him on again. Just a tad.  
"Can you get out of my ass by the way? It would be dearly fucking appreciated." He let out a small relieved sigh as Sollux pulled out, and then contemplated where to go from here. Well.. the subject was breached, so he might as well get some much-needed answers.

"What sort of person are you looking for to settle down with?"

The question struck Sollux as odd- why was Karkat being all emotional right now? It wasn't usually this way. Not that he didn't mind it but it was a curious thing to him.

Sollux sighed through his nose, nuzzling Karkat's face.  
"I dunno," he said flatly. "Thomeone with a cranky attitude, but thweet when he wantth to be." He smiled. "Thomeone short, with a baby fathe and a cute butt."  
He could only imagine the face Karkat was making as he described his best friend.

Karkat hesitated, and then let out a small snort. "Well, that leaves me out then. Everybody knows I have the ass of a six year old."  
He tried to hide the weird feeling it stirred up in his chest, the anxious uncertainty of the reality behind Sollux's words. Was he saying he wanted to be with Karkat? Even moreso, did Karkat want to be with him?

Sollux gave Karkat three soft pecks at his mouth before he spoke again.  
"I like uth jutht the way we are," he said honestly.  
No, he hadn't met someone that had pushed aside the affection he held for Karkat and he wasn't sure he ever would. And, if one day, Karkat ended this because of dedication to another Sollux would be sad. But he would grin and bear it for his best friend.

"....Yeah. I do too." Karkat let his barriers build back up, slowly but surely, the barriers that Sollux managed to forcefully destroy during sex- but usually Karkat managed to pull them up way quicker than this.  
God damn fucking asshole at work probably threw him off his game.

He pulled away and got up, only bothering to put his boxers back on. "I'm taking a fucking shower and going to bed. Night asshole."

"Night, pumpkin." Sollux smiled and watched Karkat saunter off, pulling up his own pants and doing them. He was a gross mess but judging from the way Karkat absconded, he wanted a few minutes alone. Sollux would give him that much.

Karkat slowly clicked the door shut behind him and locked it, double checking to make sure it was closed, and then looked in the mirror. Dark circles were under his eyes, his hair was a fucking sweaty mess, and he was still flushed pink.  
Digusting.  
He pulled his boxers back off and, though he would never in a million fucking years, turned around and totally checked out his ass in the mirror.  
"It is pretty great."


	4. Te Amo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux flopped down onto the couch and rubbed his temples, letting out a deep exhale. He had no fucking idea what he was going to do. He cared about Karkat, cared about him a lot, but it was true. Karkat wanted more than Sollux was giving him... and Sollux didn't know if he was able to give it.

He'd never been to this particular record store, but from what Sollux understood, it had a pretty good track record. He walked inside, the doorbell dinger making a sharp noise in his ear and he was instantly hit by the comforting smell of vinyl. He smirked mentally, his eyes flickering around the place and drinking it all in.

"Wwelcome," A voice called out, in an expressly unique wavy accent. Its origin was the man behind the counter, who was literally the textbook definition of hipster. A striped scarf was wound around his neck, and he wore a v-neck sweater and big, horn rimmed glasses. His dark hair was swept back and had a streak of violet in the front, and he was smiling evenly at Sollux.  
"Can I help you wwith anythin'?"

Sollux quirked a brow. Wow. There were definitely some interesting characters in this fuckin' place. He grinned at the clerk though and his long, lanky legs led him to the counter where he leaned too far forward on it.  
"Hmmm," he thought out loud. "Not sure exactly what I'm looking for. How'th about...thow me what you like?" He winked.

The man behind the counter was quite literally taken aback, as he stepped backwards and bumped into an acoustic guitar hanging on the wall. When his eyebrows came back down to earth and he stepped back forward, he fiddled with his scarf and pretended nothing had happened.   
"I could tell you a feww a' the bands I listen to but you'we probably newer heard a' 'em." He also seemed incapable of making a v sound, instead opting to replace them with w's.

Sollux snorted audibly and rolled his eyes. Dear God.  
"Oh so you're one of thothe are you?" He smirked. "Then show me thomething new. I'm pretty sure I can hang with the-" he made quotes in the air- "cool kidth."

The man snorted slightly. "Howw about The Decemberists most recent, The King Is Dead? It's damn near ancient noww but you'we gotta start somewwhere I suppose." He paused as the bell on the door rang and looked over, giving the same even smile he had offered Sollux to the figure who stepped in- swept blonde hair, a slightly oversized red hoodie, and dark shades perched on his face.

"Aw, fuck," Sollux muttered under his breath when he saw Dave. Dammit, he did not want to deal with this kid on his day off.   
"Hey. You," he said back up at the kid behind the counter. And as soon as he had his attention Sollux leaned up and over the counter and lay on him a full, hard kiss. He pulled away once before diving in again, this time working his jaw as he tongued his mouth.

Surprised would be an understatement for how Dave felt on the inside. On the outside, he looked totally calm and composed as he did before he saw his tech stooge attacking some hipster douchebag's mouth like John with an unopened box of Fruit Gushers.  
The man behind the counter, however, was much more obvious about his shock- his eyes went wide as dinner plates for the entire duration of the first kiss, but during the second he eagerly returned the sentiment.

Sollux bit down lightly on the kid's tongue when it probed from his mouth, relishing in the feeling of the slick muscle sliding behind his teeth. But, soon, he pulled back but not after breaking the thin strand of saliva between them with his tongue and planting two shorter kisses on his mouth.  
"Hold those CD'th for me, would ya?" He asked with a wink. "I'll be back thometime later."

And with that Sollux shoved away from the counter and turned on his heel, but stopped when he saw Dave. He pretended to be surprised.  
"Oh. Hey."

Dave gave only a slight tip of his head in acknowledgement, face deadpan. It was an expression- or lack thereof- he had been practicing and sculpting his entire life. And the weird mixture of anger and- jealousy?- made him need it now more than ever.  
"Sup."

Sollux shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets.  
"Jutht, lookin' around. But I wath jutht on my way out, tho I'll catch you Thurthday."

Finally, finally the guy working the counter found his voice again.  
"Wwait, wwhat's your name?"

Dave felt a tiny spark of recognition- oh. OH. So that's what was happening here.   
He had never felt a sicker sense of pain, annoyance, and smug, pure asshole.  
"Just looking? Yeah, I have this issue of trying on and not buying. I'm sure you know what that's like, Captor?" His head gave the most miniscule, almost nonexistant twitch towards Counter-Guy.

Sollux only smirked, his lips pulling back to show his teeth on one side.  
"A little," he said. He turned around and gave the kid behind the counter a quick wink and a flick of his tongue. "Nektht time," he said.

Dave could not help rolling his eyes behind his glasses- it was so much easier staying expressionless and relaxed in posture when he had at least one outlet of emotion.   
"See ya on Thursday tech stooge," He said in a slightly louder tone and then walked past him, shoulder just barely brushing Sollux's as he went to browse the shop.

Good. Gooooooooooooooooood. Sollux beamed with satisfaction and his eyes flickered around the room once he was sure Dave had vanished into a different area of the store. He beckoned the kid behind the counter with his finger.

Counter-Guy headed over, looking slightly anxious and blushing a weak red.   
"Wwhat wwas that all about?" He was fiddling with his scarf more incessently now- tugging at loose strings, twisting the fabric in his hands, kneading it between his ring-covered fingers.

Sollux shrugged. "Revenge ith one word for it."   
He leaned back against the wall and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.   
"But it felt pretty good, I gotta admit. Thomething I would do again if you wanted."  
Karkat's face flashed inside of his mind.   
Iloveyou, his brain throbbed. He pushed it away.

"Of fuckin' course you're gonna do it again, 'cause you're comin' ower to my place tomorroww at 8." He straightened up slightly, gaze flickering with determination. He was not going to let this end up like his last relationship. Or the one before that. Or the one before th-  
It was safe to say he wasn't very suave when it came to relationships.

"Th' name is Eridan. Eridan Ampora."

"Mmmm, forward. I like that." Sollux pushed himself away from the wall and tugged at the ends of the ki- Eridan's scarf and pulled him forward, licking across his lower lip. Come to find out, he had long ago had his tongue surgically split.   
"Tholluxth," he said. "Or daddy- whichever you prefer."

Eridan's face lit up red again, and after a moment of stunned silence a tiny smile tugged at his lips.  
"You're pretty cocky. I hawen't seen nothin' yet that wwould giwe you the priwelage a' bein' called daddy, Sollux."   
His eyes flickered from Sollux's heterochromatic eyes to his lips, as if debating taking them for himself. It was tempting.

A full smile smeared across Sollux's face now and he took a step back.  
"Jutht wait," he warned. "Wordth will get you in a good plathe with me."

Iloveyou.   
Sollux forced Karkat out of his mind again.

He dug in his pants pockets and pulled out his phone, fingers ready to tap in Eridan's number. He quirked a brow, waiting.

Eridan fed him the phone number with only a seconds hesitation.  
"An' I suppose you're expectin' I'll ask for your number so you can smoothly say 'No babe, I'll call you'?" He smirked, eyes raking up and down the thin man before him.   
"It wwould be on par wwith the act you're playin' up right noww."

Sollux did not smile. Instead he jerked a thumb towards the door.  
"Wrong," he said simply. "Actually, I wath jutht gonna leave anyway."  
Which, was the truth.

Sollux was eager for this shit to get on a roll- it had been a while since he was intimate- god he hated that word- with anyone besides Karkat. He was curious to see how it would feel. How it would play out.

Eridan scoffed, "Fine, get outta here then. I got a fuckin' job ta do." He returned to his place behind the counter, but his gaze didn't leave Sollux. Not until Dave dropped a case of headphones on the counter expectantly did Eridan break out of his mini-trance, and rang him up.

With a wide grin Sollux turned on his heel and headed out, the ding of the doorbell faintly ringing in his ears as he walked down the sidewalk.

Well. He got more out of today so far than he had anticipated.  
Tuesday- Karkat might be home. Maybe. He was still sleeping when Sollux had left him this morning.  
Iloveyou.

BZZZZZZT.

"Hm?" Sollux had quickly picked up, as the phone was still in his hand.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU ASSHOLE."

"I'm on my way, calm your fucking titth, KK. Shit. I went out to... get thome thtuff." He would have to hurry and buy something fucking random to keep Karkat from being susp- Wait. Why did that even matter?

"Well I'm so fucking happy for you, did you totally forget that Aradia was coming to see your stupid ass today? I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to come chew your dumb fucking excuse for human life out, because I swear to fucking God the awkward was dickslapping me in the face. AND THE AWKWARD WAS HUNG, SOLLUX. IT WAS HUNG AS HELL."

Oh, shit...He had forgot.  
"Um. Fuck. Okay, I'll be there in like...five minuteth."

Sollux hung up and immediately started in a quick jog, winding through people as he passed them, twisting and turning when neccessary.  
And when he did make it inside he was panting, leaning on the door.  
"Fuck. Hi."

"Sollux!" The slender, long-haired girl stood, striding over and tossing her arms around his shoulders.   
"Where have you been?" Her voice dropped to a near-whisper, "It was really really awkward being alone with Karkat. He was like, almost naked when he answered the door, and then complained for 10 minutes that I woke him up."

Sollux laughed and squeezed around her middle, giving a kiss to her temple.  
"He'th like a dog. You ignore him enough and he'll jutht shut up on hith own."   
His eyes flickered up to Karkat and he winked. "Thorry I wath late. I went out to grab a few thingth and- turnth out- didn't have time."

"You said you were on your fucking way back when I called you, don't give me shit. Were you out selling your body Sollux? You can tell me, we'll stage an appropriate fucking intervention."

Aradia laughed melodically and pulled away, waving Karkat off with a hand.   
"Sollux you've got to check out this coin I found with my metal detector the other day! It was a pain to dig up, but I think it might be pretty valuable!"   
Her red lips stretched into a smile, and she pushed a strand of long, curly brunette hair behind her ear.

Sollux flipped Karkat the bird behind Aradia's back and his thumb glided across her cheek.  
"Hmm," he hummed. Aradia was always digging up things for him to see. "Show me the way, beautiful."

Aradia giggled lightheartedly and pulled him into the kitchen, digging through her large messenger bag on the table and pulling out a small tupperware container. It was filled with several rocks of different sizes, shapes and colors, mixed in with old, dirt-encrusted coins. She pulled out one in particular and handed it to Sollux.  
"It's really hard to read the date, but I'm pretty sure it's from the 1830's!"

He examined the coin, pretending to be extremely interested, when in reality he was thinking about his 'date' tomorrow with Eridan.   
"That'th pretty thweet, AA," He smiled at her and she beamed in return.

"I know!" She laughed, a tinkling laugh, and then grew a little more serious as she looked up at Sollux with wide chocolate brown eyes.   
"Sollux, are you and Karkat alright?" Her voice had dropped down to a near-whisper.

"Yeah, of courthe. What do you mean?" Sollux wasn't sure why they were whispering, but he felt obligated to drop his voice level as well.

Aradia fiddled with the coin in her hands, but kept her gaze unwavering on Sollux's.   
"Well, I mean, I know you guys have this weird friends with benefits sort of relationship and that's cool, but I think Karkat is starting to want more than that, and if you aren't willing to give it to him... You should tell him."

As always, Aradia knew so much more than she should, and she was right about every bit of it.   
"Shit... I know. You're right." He offered her a small, somber smile. "You're tho damn thmart. Alwayth have been."  
He reached up and stroked her cheek with his thumb again, and she only giggled.

Sollux and Aradia had been friends since they were just little kids. They even dated for two years, but eventually came to a mutual agreement to stay good friends, which they did. Sollux could tell her anything, and she could tell him anything. It was a really comfortable relationship.

"I'm not saying you have to decide right now, but soon, alright? For me."

Sollux let out an exaggerated sigh, pretending to be annoyed, but he smiled.  
"Alright, alright, you know I can't thay no to you AA. I'll make up my damn mind and tell him ath thoon ath I do, ok?"

"Ok, Sollux. I'm holding you to that!" She smiled once more and gave him a warm hug, before pulling back and putting her things back in her bag.   
"I have to go to class now but I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Alright, later AA." He gave her a small nod and then saw her out, noticing with a small twinge that Karkat wasn't in the living room anymore, and his jacket and shoes were gone. Must have taken a walk.

Sollux flopped down onto the couch and rubbed his temples, letting out a deep exhale. He had no fucking idea what he was going to do. He cared about Karkat, cared about him a lot, but it was true. Karkat wanted more than Sollux was giving him... and Sollux didn't know if he was able to give it.

Iloveyou.


	5. Top

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He rapped his knuckles twice on the door, swallowing back any doubts with the thought of warm hands running down his sides, gripping his hips, calling him fuckass-  
> god damnit. No.
> 
> This was not going to be Karkat's hands. This was going to be Eridan's hands.

At 6:43, Sollux was thinking he needed this.

At 7:29, Sollux was positive he needed this.

At 7:58, Sollux was standing outside apartment 242.

He rapped his knuckles twice on the door, swallowing back any doubts with the thought of warm hands running down his sides, gripping his hips, calling him fuckass-  
god damnit. No.

This was not going to be Karkat's hands. This was going to be Eridan's hands.

The door opened and Eridan looked hipster as ever, wearing a long white t-shirt and a blue plaid jacket over it and of course his horn-rimmed glasses. He also donned tight black skinny jeans and what were probably imported hemp shoes- he was obviously a rich kid, judging by the rings all over his fingers and the fabric of the scarf around his neck.   
But he was attractive, with a slight cleft chin and angled features. He was tall like Sollux, maybe even a little taller, which Sollux hoped wouldn't give him the silly idea he was going to top.

Sollux was always the top.

"Hey Sol," Eridan cooed, offering him a wide smile that looked rehearsed. He gestured for the other man to please, do come inside, with a sweep of his arm.  
Sollux complied and headed inside and- holy shit.

The apartment was lavishly decorated, and everything looked so expensive Sollux was almost afraid to walk inside. The entire place had a nautical theme, including a large shelf full of what looked like books about old historical figures and captains. The walls were a deep navy blue and the accents were white and a lighter sky blue, making you almost feel like you were underwater.

"Impressed? My dad owwns a big shipping company, an' my trust fund wwas delicious." Eridan's voice was dripping with pride.

"Uh... Damn. Yeah, thith ith incredible. Why do you even have that shitty job at the record thtore if you're rich?" Sollux turned and gave the hipster a curious glance, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Eridan rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. "I can liwe off a' my trust fund for a long time but ewentually it wwould run out. I'm just makin' sure I'm financially sound forewer."

Sollux was actually impressed. He probably wouldn't have made such a smart decision if he was in Eridan's position.  
"Tho you invited me over here, what are the planth hipthter?" He offered a slight smirk, cocking one eyebrow.

Eridan paused and then offered what was probably meant to be a sultry smile. "Wwell didn't I tell you that you wwere gonna be doin' that again? Get to it," He chuckled smoothly. Although Sollux did notice he seemed a little bit tense, nervous, which was actually... pretty damn cute.

Without needing to be asked twice, Sollux wrapped his arms around Eridan's waist and planted a teasingly gentle kiss on his lips, ending it with a small nip. Eridan fidgeted impatiently, but he wasn't even going to start to complain. He didn't want to mess this up.

"Mm," Sollux smiled and gave another kiss, this one a bit deeper as his mouth opened and he swiped his tongue over Eridan's lips. The slightly taller man sighed with pleasure, arms winding around Sollux's shoulders and giving him a small squeeze.

"You tathte fantathtic," The older man mused, wiggling his split tongue.

"Thanks?" Eridan's face dusted pink, and Sollux removed both of their glasses before giving him a sudden messy, passionate kiss, which caused them both to moan quietly into each other's mouths.   
Sollux pulled away for a moment, his breathing having picked up slightly, and gently ghosted his lips over Eridan's cheek until he reached his ear.

"Wwhat are you- oh."

Sollux sucked lightly on Eridan's earlobe, giving it gentle nips, and then trailed his tongue up the shell of the hipster's ear and back down.   
Eridan moaned weakly in response, and pushed his hands up Sollux's simple yellow t-shirt, as the older man helped him remove it.

"Sol, are wwe actually doin' this?" Eridan's voice almost failed him, and he swallowed hard as Sollux removed his scarf, jacket, hands wiggling their way under his t-shirt and fingers teasing around his nipples- shit.

"Only if you want to thweetheart," Sollux replied in a soft, slightly teasing tone, pulling the shirt up off Eridan and then locking eyes.  
"Do you want to?"

Eridan hesitated for a long heartbeat, and then nodded with resolve.   
"A' course I do." He offered a toothy smile, which was quickly smothered with Sollux's mouth.  
Oh.  
Oh, this was much nicer.

Skin against skin, felt so much better than fabric against fabric. Eridan pressed closer, fingers kneading into Sollux's shoulders and lips locked with his.   
At that point, Eridan was 110% convinced that there was still wway too much fuckin' clothin' in the wway.

He pulled back and grabbed Sollux's hand, guiding him into the bedroom- also nautical themed, but it was a rich violet with teal accents- and tossed him down onto the bed.  
He clawed at the button and zipper until both obstacles were bested, and then impatiently tugged Sollux's baggy gray pants down and off.

"Shit ED, there'th no way in hell I'm gonna bottom, let'th jutht make that clear." Sollux sat up and aided Eridan in removing his ungodly tight jeans, before gripping his hips and kissing up and down his abdomen.

"That's fuckin' fine," Eridan whined lowly, "Just keep fuckin' goin'."

Sollux smirked and slipped his fingers into the hem of Eridan's boxers, kissing the small trail of dark hair under his naval, and then pulled them down and off.  
Eridan's length was only half at attention, and this needed to be rectified.

Sollux kissed around the base, suckling gently, and felt Eridan's hips twitch.   
Mmm, shit, that was nice.  
He pulled back and slid one hand from Eridan's hip to his member, running his flat palm up the underside, over the tip, and back down the top. He took it in his hand, and yes, it was definitely hardening in his grip.

"Shit, Sol," Eridan breathed quietly, his head tilted up just a tad and his hands tangled up in Sollux's hair. It felt goddamned amazing, the calloused engineers' hands rubbing him and stroking him, fuck, completely amazing.

"Mmmm, like that?" Sollux started stroking carefully, leaning forward and licking the small bead of precum from the slit on the swollen head. He heard a small gasp and the hips pushed slightly closer, and the older man took that as an open invitation.   
He took the tip in his mouth loosely as he stroked the length itself, hearing a high-pitched moan from the hipster. His tongue teased around the smooth skin, and hips twitched once more.

Iloveyou.

Sollux let out a sudden choked sound as Karkat's face flashed in his mind, and he pulled back as if he had been stung. Eridan let out a small, questioning grunt, looking down at him with a deep scarlet blush.

"Uh, fuck, can you give me one thecond? I- shit," He covered his face with his hands. He couldn't do this. He couldn't go through with it.

"Sol wwhat the fuck are you talkin' about?" Eridan looked a little irritated, but also concerned. What happened? Why did Sollux suddenly stop?

Sollux sighed and smeared his hands down, standing up and placing them on the side of Eridan's neck.  
"I'm thorry, I have to go. Really thorry. Can we rethchedule? I jutht need to take care of thomething, and I jutht realized it." Sollux had a small, sheepish smile. Eridan was maybe a little pretentious, and a lot of hipster, but deep down Sollux could tell he just wanted to be loved. So yes, it sucked to have to hurt him, but...  
He needed to talk to Karkat. Right now.

"Fuck, seriously? Shit. Uh... yeah, fuck, fine. Wwe can reschedule. Just... text me, I guess." Eridan tried not to feel too disappointed, but, god damn. It was getting really hot.

"Again, I'm really thorry." Sollux leaned over and gave Eridan a sweet kiss, and then pulled his clothes back on- disheveled, but he didn't really care.  
"I'll tektht you thoon, I promithe." And then he was out the door, all but running back to the apartment he shared with his roommate.  
His best friend.  
His love.

He burst through the door, panting, and then paused.  
What... the...  
actual fuck?

Sollux blinked, taking in the scene before him. He almost couldn't believe it. Seriously? Was he seeing things?

"Wh- fuck, S-Sollux! You weren't supposed to b-be back 'til tomorrow!"


	6. Thursdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I will KK. I promithe."

Sollux had a hard time actually swallowing the reality of what he was seeing.

Karkat and John, curled up together in blankets on the couch, both of them with puffy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, watching 50 First Dates. The entire surrounding area was littered with empty Faygo bottles, Hostess Fruit Pie wrappers, and bowls with small brown popcorn kernels at the bottom. Soggy tissues were clutched in their fists, and Sollux was positive he had never seen anything more completely pathetic and... enraging.

He should be giving Karkat that awkward one-armed hug while holding a wet tissue.  
He should be covered in fruit pie crumbs and popcorn.  
He should be Karkat's shoulder to cry on.  
He should be Karkat's.

"Uh. Yeah, there wath... a change of planth. I'll jutht um... leave you two... to your... movieth." Sollux started to abscond to his room, but a loud voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait!"

Sollux turned, and saw John wiggling out of his blanket and clambering to his feet. He practically bounced over, and thrust his hand out.   
"I'm John! You must be Sollux!"

"Oh god fucking damnit John, he knows who you are. Just get back here and put in the next fucking movie before you make an even bigger fool of yourself than you already manage on a day to day basis."  
Karkat wiped his eyes, scowling, but a red blush was clear on his face.

"Shut up KK." Sollux offered a wavering smile and shook John's hand with what was probably a way-too-tight grip.   
"Yeah. I'm Thollukth."

"Oh man, Karkat's told me all about you! Is it true you work at a recording studio? My friend makes music! In fact he just got a new sound technician or whatever. Dave didn't tell me his name t-"

Oh.  
My god.

"Dave? Dave Thtrider?" No way. No way no waynowaynowaynowaynowaynoway.

"Yeah! Do you know him?" John's head tilted slightly, but his smile was just as wide as always.

Karkat was on the verge of tears from laughing so hard.

 

\----------

Sollux hated Thursdays.

Thursdays were the days he was completely alone with Dave.

But by completely alone, he means completely alone. Not even the receptionist or cleaner is there on Thursdays. The entire studio is empty, except for them.

Sundays, at least, Tavros is around, but on Thursdays... he had to face Dave head-on.

And today, he had some serious questions.

When Dave casually strolled in twenty minutes late, Sollux had been over-thinking things so much that his head was already pounding. Usually these sort of headaches only happened when he stayed awake for 72 hours, but this one was purely stress.

"Wow, you look like shit." Dave was ever the flatterer as he set his things down and sized up Sollux, who was currently sprawled out in his plush chair and rubbing his temples with quiet groaning sounds. He didn't reply to Dave's sweet words, because he was positive if he did it would be the equivelant of a sledgehammer crushing his skull to dust.

"... Dude, are you ok? Jesus, you look like you're about to kick the bucket." Dave's actually sounded a little concerned, and the brunette remembered to think about that some other time when he wasn't in so much pain.

Sollux wanted to reply, but the sheer force of his migraine was making him feel nauseas, and so he did all that he felt he could, which was hold up a shaky hand and point his thumb downwards.   
He felt almost like a little kid at that moment, because however stupid and ridiculous and sappy it was, he just wished he was with Karkat at that moment.

Sollux HATED being sick. With a flaming passion. Whenever he was sick he became the ultimate sack of self-pity.   
He whined, moaned, and bitched. All day.

But sometimes Karkat would stay home with him, curl up with him on the couch, make him soup and let him rest his head in the smaller man's lap as he watched a movie.

Sollux felt like throwing up all over again, for a different reason now.

"Shit, what's wrong with you?" Dave knelt down next to Sollux's seat, but his face stayed dangerously level.

Sollux felt the roiling wave of nausea and he frantically pointed at the trash can- god damnit Dave GET THE FUCKING TRASHCAN- and Dave seemed to understand, because he quickly grabbed it and handed it to Sollux.

And just in time for him to lean over it and empty his stomach- god, his life was just not going right lately.   
He whimpered pitifully as he wiped his mouth, and Dave didn't say anything. He simply got a water bottle out of a small mini fridge, and handed it to Sollux.

"Sip it," Dave warned, crossing his arms and giving Sollux a few moments to regain composure before asking his questions.  
"First of all, why did you come to work if you were sick."

Sollux choked down a few gulps of water, his head still pounding.   
"I wathn't thick when I came to work. Shit happenth when your both ith twenty minuteth late," He snapped, and instantly regretted it due to the sharp stab of pain in his head. He groaned and closed his eyes, and heard a bitter sigh from across the room.

"Ok ok, I get it, it's my fault. Second, do you need to go to the hospital?" Dave's expression gave away nothing, and Sollux was starting to get seriously bothered by it as his eyes slipped open again.

"No, no fucking way. I'll be jutht fine, let'th.. let'th get thtarted." Sollux recalled they had barely gotten any real work done since his job at started, and he felt like, headache or not, he had to do work.

"Nah. My throat is feeling a little hoarse, I think today's not a good day. Guess you'll just have to go home." The tiny twitch of a smirk that Dave offered made Sollux hesitate-  
that prick wasn't hoarse at all. He was trying to make Sollux go home and rest.

It was sickeningly cute, and probably just an ironic game to Dave.

"Ugh, fine. Better not blame me when we don't get shit done," Sollux grumbled almost incoherently, but didn't complain any further.

Dave insisted on helping him to his car, but as he evaluated Sollux's current state, he seemed to inwardly change his mind.

"I'm driving you home," he said with confident resolve, and ignored the groans of protest that rose up from the taller man.  
He guided Sollux into the passenger seat and then climbed in the driver's side, taking the keys from his recording engineer and taking the directions that were begrudgingly fed to him.

When they got to the apartment he shared with Karkat, Dave took out the keys, but made no move to actually get out of the car. Sollux unbuckled and gave him a questioning look, although opening his eyes to the light was a pain.

"Who's here to take care of you?"   
The question struck Sollux as odd, and he nibbled his lip. Karkat worked today, he wouldn't be there. And if he lied and said Karkat was home, John would be able to rat him out.  
Shit.

"Nobody," Sollux croaked, and he knew he was going to regret that.   
His fears were brought to fruition as Dave got out of the car and helped Sollux into their apartment- shit, he wished he would have just abandoned his love of the number two and got an apartment on the first floor instead of the second- and then explained he was going to stay until Karkat got home.

Great.

\----------

"Why the fuck didn't you just call me and tell me you had a migraine? You know I would've come back here."  
Karkat was staring Sollux down with a scowl, but it was hard to take him seriously in his multicolored uniform.

"Becauthe you're already on the edge of getting fired due to your behavior, I didn't want to make thingth worthe. Bethideth, I'm fine. It'th ok." Sollux offered a weak smile, curled up on the couch with an old Gameboy color. Dave had left just a little while ago, and the experience hadn't been as teeth-grindingly awful as Sollux expected.

Dave mostly just sat on the recliner and scribbled away in his red notebook, occasionally asking Sollux if he felt okay and if he needed something- several quips were made about him 'donning a french maid outfit and sashaying my hot ass around'.

However, the night did proceed fairly quiet and there was only minimal ass-sashaying.

"Fine... Shit. You need to take it easy though Sollux." Karkat gave him a slightly worried glance, and Sollux's heart melted.  
He needed to talk to Karkat soon.. but.. shit. Not now.

"I will KK. I promithe."

Karkat seemed at least a little bit comforted by this, and he leaned down to give the taller man playing the handheld a light kiss.

"Good night fuckstick," He murmured against Sollux's lips, and then straightened up and turned to head to his room.

Sollux opened his mouth to say something but he managed to stop himself before it got out- not now.   
He just.. wasn't ready.

Iloveyou.


	7. Late

Sollux strode into the studio feeling comfortably refreshed from the day before, and luckily, Dave was waiting in the recording area for him this time- no overthinking shit, just getting straight to fucking work and letting everything else slip away.  
He was still confused about the whole roommate situation, but fuck if he was going to let it give him another migraine. Yesterday was beyond shitty, and he was feeling good today. Not going to let random shit like that ruin it.

"Hey, look who's still alive." Dave gave him a curt nod as he untangled the cords of his headphones, his brow furrowed slightly in concentration as he turned back to the task at hand.

Fuck that's too cute.

"Yeah, I tried my damn betht not to wathte away overnight. It wath hard without my fine-ath maid, of courthe, but I managed to keep it together with only the thought that I'd get to thee your pretty fathe in the morning," he teased, wiggling his split tongue at Dave despite the boy not looking. He could be good with words too.

He was rewarded for his efforts with a small chuckle, which made him smile crookedly. He had never heard Dave laugh before.  
It was well worth the wait.

"Well here I am, try not to get too excited." Dave put the untangled headphones around his neck.  
Sollux tossed his empty Lifewater at Dave, who caught it and did a skillful shot into the trash.

"Two pointth for the douche in the aviatorth." Sollux smirked and relaxed into his cushy chair, feeling some tension melt away that he didn't know was there.

"Sweet. Next I'll get a homerun straight out of the baseball court."

Completely oblivious to sports.  
Jesus.

"Batheball FIELD dipshit," Sollux teased, spinning his chair around in a small gesture of happiness. He silently praised himself on making things less awkward with his boss.

The man in the shades snorted. "Yeah, because I care about sports. I'm all about hitting the pigskin into the hockey basket."

That... Was so off and far-fetched, that Sollux legitimately laughed. Apparently it was contagious, because Dave laughed too- and Sollux found himself quieting to hear. It was low and warm, more akin to a raspy chuckle.

Dave reclaimed his emotionless mask, flicking his bangs from his smooth visage with a slight twitch of his head.

"Tho," Sollux started, clearing his throat. "What'th the workload today?"   
He sort of hoped it would be a busy day- they had been taking it easy lately, and they DID have deadlines to meet. Sollux wasn't too concerned about that, though, he was positive they could do it.

"We've got lots to do today, so buckle up nice and tight."  
Dave leaned back onto the cluttered table, semi-sitting with his arms propping him up.

"We're gonna run the whole set of tracks from the next album plus two bonus tracks. So I hope you didn't make any evening plans, 'cause you're mine for the night babe."

Sollux didn't mind in the slightest. In fact, spending a night with Dave might be nice- not that he would ever let on that he thinks his boss is hot.  
So he simply nodded and winked, sticking out his split tongue with a teasing wiggle.

Dave's mouth fell open, and Sollux was dumbfounded at the light pink blush he was positive he saw. What... the fuck?

The moment was over as soon as it happened; a flash of a second and then Dave was back in his mask of apathy.

"Thtrider," Sollux tested carefully, "What wath that?"

"What was what?" Dave headed into the isolation booth, but Sollux just hit a button and kept the conversation going.

"You blushed and gaped at me. Ekthplain yourthelf."

"I don't know what you're talking about dude. You've got a wicked attack of the crazies going on man. Better call up the local mental institute, techie's gone to the dark side."

Sollux rolled his eyes, "That'th nithe. Now theriouthly, why wath the great Dave Thtrider blushing?"

Dave gave the man an even expression. "I wasn't blushing. Obviously those mismatched eyes are seeing shit."

"No they weren't! Come on, te-"

"Holy shit dude, shut up and start the music before I fire you."

The recording engineer looked at Dave with thinly veiled shock.

Wow. That was low.

Sollux started up the music without another word.

\---

Seven hours and eighteen tracks later, Sollux and Dave were still mixing tracks. The earlier altercation was generally forgotten, but that might have been due to the plethora of beer cans now littering the studio.

"Alright dude, that part has to be more edgy. Like, so edgy."

"Like..." Sollux mixed up the mentioned area, blindly trying to capture 'edgy' without any idea what that was supposed to mean.

"Oh shit, yes. Just like that."

Sollux snorted at the suggestive statement, earning a playful shove from Dave.

"You're nasty.   
I like that in a guy." Dave tossed an empty beer can in the general direction of the trash, and Sollux laughed warmly.

"Ooh Mithter Thtrider ooh."  
Sollux stretched in his seat, and memory struck him at the intoxicated tint to Dave's cheeks. He swiveled his chair to face the blonde, who was kneeling near the soundboard.   
"Oh hey, why were you blushing earlier?"

Dave stilled, looking momentary conflicted. But apparently the honesty of alcohol won out over his drowning pride.

"Your tongue," he said simply.

Sollux blinked. His... tongue? Oh.

Oh.

"You mean how it'th thplit? Ohoh, wath the great Dave Thtrider imagining what thith tongue of mine can do?" He wiggled the offending muscle.

"Yep. Shit man, a guy can only wonder."  
Dave stood and stretched, before getting a contemplative look.

"That is," the coolkid said lowly, leaning down, "unless the guy finds out firsthand."

Sollux's sluggish, alcohol-hindered mind didn't really comprehend the heated kiss he was pulled into until Dave motherfucking Strider's tongue was in his mouth.  
He, for a moment, couldn't help himself. He kissed back.   
He wound his arms around Dave's neck, pulled him closer, and tasted pure alcohol as he suckled on Dave's tongue.

But eventually, he came to his senses- or at least, what was left of them.

He gently pushed the man off, receiving a small, questioning grunt.

"Dave, thtop..." He ignored the assault of lips to his neck, and shoved the coolkid again.

Dave looked at Sollux, and the recording engineer winced. He looked way more fuckable than anyone should be allowed.

"Thtrider, I can't."

"Why."

"I jutht can't..."

"Bullshit. Real reason."

"I'm in love with my roomie."

Dave frowned slightly, his brow furrowing behind his shades. He was silent for a moment.

"And how does said roommate feel?"

Sollux knew he flinched at that. "  
"He loveth me back. Or, he did..." Sollux cut off and then pushed Dave completely away, standing up.

"Lithten, I don't wanna talk about thith. I've. I've gotta get home, ok?"

Sollux gathered his things and rushed out, leaving Dave to wonder what the fuck just happened.

\---

"KK?" Sollux cautiously peered in the apartment, setting his bag down on the floor. The inside was pitch back, and he sighed deeply as he flicked on the buttery yellow light.   
He flopped down on the couch and looked at the table, which had a bear-shaped bottle of honey and a piece of torn paper underneath it.

"HEY SHITPIRATE. I'M OUT. WON'T BE BACK UNTIL MORNING SO HERE'S A BOTTLE OF HONEY. TRY NOT TO STARVE AND/OR DIE OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION WITHOUT ME."

Sollux felt his heart clench. Where was he that he would be out all night?  
The only thing that came to mind at first was... with John?

No, no, no, Karkat wasn't the type to put out easily. He must be spending the night at Gamzee's.

Sollux sighed deeply, and continued convincing himself that Karkat was with Gamzee as he ate pure honey, played WoW, showered, and eventually forced himself into a fitful sleep.

\---

"Dude, shut the fuck up. Sollux is still asleep."

It was a bit too late for that, Karkat.

Sollux opened his eyes groggily, hearing random thumping in the apartment that could only be Gamzee's guileless lumbering.  
He stood and pulled on some boxers, mussing up his hair and slapping his tinted glasses on his face.

"God damnit Gamzee, stop bu-"

"It'th alright KK, the damage ith done."   
Sollux headed down the hallway, leaning against the doorless frame that was the threshold of hallway and living room.

"Sup brother," Gamzee greeted in his lazy, raspy tone. He looked about the same as usual- slick facepaint as per juggalo culture, messy mop of black hair, and deep brown eyes rimmed with red.   
Gamzee was about as big of a stoner as a guy could be.

Sometimes, Sollux really liked Gamzee around. He kept Karkat mostly chill, and was constantly baking delicious confections. Granted, they were often spiked, but sometimes it was a welcome high.

Other times, however, Gamzee got on his last fucdking nerve. There were times he held Karkat a little too close, acted a little too friendly to his roommate. These were the times Sollux wanted to punch him out, if he wasn't certain that Gamzee could knock his ass flat.  
Gamzee was a big guy. Skinny as hell, but tall and muscular in the arms. He spent a lot of time juggling clubs.

At the present time, with Gamzee trapping Karkat in a clumsy albeit close embrace, Sollux was on the latter state of emotion. He was pissed.

"Jutht watching my roommate being thmothered by a juggalo," he murmured evenly, cocking an eyebrow.  
Karkat flushed red, scowling darkly.

"Shut up fuckass," Karkat snapped emptily as Gamzee laughed.

"Shit man, you all up and interrupted me making a motherfucker swoon all over this bitch. Had to keep a brother from up and falling out and conking his head all nasty."

Sollux could feel himself tense, even as Karkat shoved the tall man away.

"Shut the fuck up Gamzee, I tripped over your bigass feet." Karkat crossed his arms over his chest, and the juggalo ruffled his hair.

Sollux groaned and turned, heading back into his room to get dressed.  
"I've gotta get ready for work, try not to methh up the whole apartment while I do."

As the techie started getting dressed, he thought over... how he was going to talk to Karkat.

He loved him.

But it might be too late.


	8. A Walk

Work went generally without a hitch- neither Dave nor Sollux mentioned the previous night's incident. Dave seemed extremely distant and formal, but it was welcome. For now, Sollux have other things on his mind, like getting home and seeing the ornery, slightly child-like face he loved.  
Yes. Loved.

Sollux opened the door slowly to find an empty living room, and he racked his mind for where Karkat could be.  
Shit. Work. Duh.

He crashed on the couch, playing Spyro until 10:15, at which point he quickly shut the console off and waited.

At 10:17, the door swung open with a familiar agitated mumbling.  
Karkat dropped his jacket, looking as though he was about to speak, and then stopped and gave Sollux a questioning glance.

"Why the fuck is it so quiet in here?" Karkat sat next to Sollux and reached for the remote, only to get his hand smacked lightly away.

"What the fuck, Sollux-"

"KK we need to talk."

"... About?"

"Uth."

Karkat's frown deepened, and he crossed his arms. "What is there to talk about? We're best friend fuck buddies. Case closed."

"I don't wanna be betht friend fuckbuddieth."

Karkat's gaze shot over to him like a bullet.

"What? What Sollux, are you gonna go steady with that asshole from the record store? Real good replacement for me shitsack. Have fun with that. I'm taking a shower," he growled, standing up.  
Sollux grabbed his wrist, earning a short yell that got interrupted.

"Let-!"

"I love you."

Karkat stopped struggling and looked at Sollux incredulously. "..."  
He looked like he wanted to speak, but nothing came to him. Sollux had told Karkat that numerous times, but the sound technician's tone was different.  
Resolute.

"... Sollux..." Karkat started, sitting back down and holding Sollux's hand.  
"Sollux I can't."

Sollux's heart dropped and it didn't come back up.

"Why not?"

"Someone else."

Sollux desperately fought the tears, he really did, but they blurred his vision anyways.  
"John." It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

"... Yeah."

Sollux felt Karkat's warm hug before he felt the tears on his cheeks. He was too late. He had waited too long, didn't give Karkat what he deserved.

Now he pays the price.

"I'm thorry... KK oh god I'm tho thorry... You detherved... And I didn't... Realized too late... Love you," The techie stammered through his cries, as Karkat rubbed soft circles onto his back.

"Sollux, shut up. It's ok. If anything I should fucking apologize."

"For what?"

"I don't know... Not being able to... Say yes..."

Sollux fisted handfuls of Karkat's shirt, sniffling like a toddler. "No, it'th my fault. I wath too late in realizing..."  
Sollux sighed as the tears began to subside.  
"KK..."

Karkat gave a slight tremble in his grip.

"KK, are you guyth... together?"

A pause.

"... No, but.. Sollux, I wouldn't... get my hopes up. He's the biggest dork I've ever fucking met and unbelievably hyper but... he makes me feel a little less fucking awful, and he likes my movies, and..."

Sollux cut him off with a tight squeeze. "No more, pleathe no more KK. I get it."

Karkat continued to gently rub Sollux's back, letting the man regain composure. When Sollux was generally ok, he pulled away, and gave his roommate a long look.  
"Are you gonna be alright dipshit?"

Sollux weighed this question in its entirety, and when it came to it... he wasn't sure. He really wasn't.

"I don't know."

Karkat sighed and he averted his eyes, wringing his hands. "Do you want to... talk?"

"No. I'm jutht... gonna go for a walk." Sollux stood up, wiping his eyes. Karkat said something, but it fell on deaf ears as the techie hurried outside. His phone was out immediately as he walked briskly towards his destination, and he tapped out a message, fingers flying over the keypad.

"ii'm comiing over now, let'2 fiinii2h what we 2tarted."

"wwhat"

"ju2t 2hut up, take your pant2 off and waiit."

"ok"

\---

Sollux woke up in a familiar purple room, a sleeping form clinging to him. He felt comfortably warm on the outside, but on the inside he felt empty and unfulfilled. He made a move to get up, but the arms around him tightened.

"Sol...? Are you leawin'? Is it wwork?" Eridan nuzzled up to his neck, and Sollux gave a weak smile.

"No, it'th... I mean, I have the day off 'cauthe we got tho much done yethterday tho I'm not gonna have to work, I wath jutht gonna thmoke."  
Sollux felt the arms around him relax slightly, and he took this to be as much permission as he would get.

He stood and stretched, memories of the previous night flooding his thoughts as he got dressed. He headed out of the apartment and sat on the stairs, pulling out his cigarettes and lighting one up.

He checked his phone, the smoke perched in his lips, and found eight texts and two missed calls.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

"ANSWER ME."

"SOLLUX COME ON, QUIT IGNORING ME."

"ARE YOU OK???"

"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU'RE GETTING SHITFACED I'M NOT BAILING YOUR DRUNK DRIVING ASS OUT OF JAIL."

"THE CAR IS STILL HERE SO I GUESS THERE WON'T BE DRUNK DRIVING, BUT. DAMNIT SOLLUX YOU'RE SCARING ME.

"I GUESS STAY SAFE PLEASE. I STILL CARE ABOUT YOU SOLLUX."

Sollux cringed, and then realized the last text was from a number he didn't have in his phone.

"hey bro its dave john said karkat is freaking out about you  
derp is over at your apartment calming him down but try not to get fucked up i need my tech stooge"

Sollux recorded Dave's number into his phone and exhaled deeply, smoke billowing from his lips. The two calls were from Karkat, and he decided it was best to call back.  
The phone picked up after several rings, and there was a moment of a phone being dropped before a voice greeted him.

"Hello?" Raspy and tired. Probably up most the night.

"Hey KK..." Sollux prepared for the shouting.  
But it didn't come.

Instead, he got a soft, "Hey."

That... was unnerving.

"I'm thorry I didn't anthwer, I wath..."

"Busy. Yeah. I get it."

Sollux knew Karkat knew. Part of him felt guilty.  
Part of him didn't care.  
Part of him wanted Karkat to know.

"Yeah. I'm gonna thtay here for the day."

"Where is here?"

"Eridan'th. Theathwell apartmentth. I'll probly thtay the night again."  
Maybe he wanted Karkat to... feel a little bad. Or a little jealous?

The line was silent for a long heartbeat. When Sollux got a reply, it was heartwrenching.

"Ok."  
It was so quiet, so uncharacteristically quiet for Karkat, that Sollux felt like the biggest douche alive.

"... Uh. He'th waiting, tho..."

"No, yeah. Go ahead. Uh. Bye Sollux..."

"... Bye KK."

He hung up the phone, and shot Dave a text.

"ii'm fiine. ii ju2t needed miindle22 2ex and alcohol."

His phone buzzed almost immediately.

"why didnt you say so im game"

"2orry, already took care of iit wiith dude from the record 2tore."

"what are you too tired for me i thought youd have more stamina than that"

"ii'm about two go iin2iide for round two riight now actually. bye 2triider."

Sollux snickered and stood, crushing the cigarette on his heel and ignoring the next vibration to head inside and begin round two.

He stripped his clothes off once more and climbed in with Eridan, draping one arm over the man and gently rubbing slow circles on his hips.

"Nnh, again Sol? Needy, ain't wwe?" Eridan smiled and turned around, pressing a soft kiss to Sollux's lips.

"Guethh I jutht can't help mythelf," he purred in return, giving Eridan's lower lip a gentle tug with his teeth. He soaked up the hum he got in return, and his hand slid from Eridan's hip to his inner thigh, which he grabbed carefully.

"Are wwe just gettin' off?" Eridan pressed his forehead to Sollux's, his cheeks getting a healthy flush.

"For now, yeah," Sollux replied, pressing the heel of his hand into Eridan's hardening length and receiving a low gasp in response. He wrapped his hand around the length, giving it a few slow strokes and reveling in Eridan's shudder.

"Ah, ...Sol.."

Sollux clashed their lips together again, brushing his tongue over the other man's and pumping his length at a smooth rhythm. He teased his thumb over the head, swirling around small traces of precome.

"Yeth ED?" His voice was laden with tease, and Eridan only moaned heatedly in response, his hips twitching and pressing shamelessly into Sollux's hand.

"Fuck, Sol, more, fuckin' more..." Eridan buried his face against the techie's neck, giving it a few open-mouthed kisses.  
Sollux picked up the pace slightly, his hand making a slight shick noise as he did so, giving gentle squeezes and feeling more white start to leak out the slit.

"Ith thith enough for you yet?"

"Ngh, ah, no fuckin' wway, goddamn it Sol more please."

Sollux complied once more, his hand starting to move three times as quick, drawing out a short yell from Eridan. He felt the man starting to tense against him with each rhythmic pump, and he pulled his hand away at the last minute, making Eridan cry out.

"Gobackgobackgobackgobackgoback!" Eridan panted desperately, and any objection he tried to give after that was drowned into nothing as Sollux dropped down and began sucking hard on his tip. The hand was back, stroking and squeezing, while a hot, split tongue ran over the smooth skin of the head and-

Eridan was pretty much gone after that.

He bucked against Sollux, groaning loudly and gripping at the sheets like they were a lifeline as he spilled into the other man's mouth.  
When he finally came down off the crippling waves of pleasure, Sollux was holding him close again and nuzzling his jawline like a cuddly puppy.

"Shit, that wwas fuckin' good," Eridan breathed deeply, offering a smile. Sollux was definitely the best sexual partner he'd had thus far.

"Yeah, well, that'th how it ith when you're with me babe," Sollux smirked, swallowing back the bitter/salty taste that latched onto his tongue.

 

Eridan only cuddled him a little closer, feeling deeply content, but there was a lingering sense of dread as he did so. Obviously Sollux was one with a lot of, ah... Experience. Which meant... Eridan was probably just another notch in the bedpost.

Eridan tried to swallow back those thoughts, and every real emotion he felt for the person he was now holding like a body pillow. Eridan just couldn't help it, he was the type to get attached, to fall for people that made him feel less pathetic and lonely and pretentious. People who made him feel like a person instead of a face.

Sollux lay there, listening to Eridan's smooth, even breathing, until the slightest snore made him look down. He sighed inwardly, racking his mind for how he felt right now. He came up with three words: Guilty. Empty. Lonely.  
And he was taking these out on Eridan with no intention to commit.

If there was ever a time Sollux felt like the ultimate douche (which he did half the time), it was now.

Fuck.


	9. Ekthaktly

Sollux didn't often get legitimately surprised. He has a tendency to expect things, not get flustered, and keep his cool.  
There are times this is not the case.

Especially when on Saturday, Tavros brought his own roommate in to check out the studio.  
Sollux had been completely expecting someone as pitiful looking as the intern, but that was definitely NOT the case.

"Woah man, is this really where you up and get your work on? Shit's motherfucking crazy."

Gamzee was intimidating.

Gamzee was intimidating as hell.

And somehow, he was roommates with... Tavros.

Sollux took a moment to review Gamzee, as he had always known him. He was tall, and a bit lanky, but his arms had clear muscle definition. His hair was just a mop of black, not unlike Karkat's, but maybe even messier. He had dark, near-black brown eyes, which were rimmed with red. He wore classic juggalo face paint, but it was still easy to see the angled jaw and clean cut features he sported underneath it. He was obviously high when he came in, as per usual. The smell of pot pretty much floated around him like an aura, as if even getting too close to this dude would give you a contact high.

Maybe that was the case, because when Gamzee was around, Tavros seemed much more relaxed and comfortable. His stutter was minimal, although obviously still there, as he pointed things out with excitement that Sollux hadn't seen the kid use before.  
Him and Dave were watching from inside the recording area, both of them equally perplexed.

"How doeth that work?"

"Hell if I know."

"Think they're boning or thomething?"

"Doubt it."

"Tav ith probably pining."

"Poor kid."

"Yeah."

When Tavros realized he was being watched, his smile grew a little more hesitant and he waved. Gamzee followed his gaze after a moment, and said something to the smaller boy before pretty much forcing him into the recording area. Dave and Sollux both recoiled, offering small formalities in the way of greeting. Gamzee, however, would have none of that.  
He pulled them both into a hug, and mumbled something about "motherfucking miracles". Sollux coughed as the smell of marijuana nearly choked him out, and he wiggled out of the grip after a moment.

"So I'm guessing you must be Dave, am I right?" Gamzee's lazy, lidded gaze locked on the blonde, and his smile widened a tad as Dave nodded in confirmation.

"Gamzee, I'm gonna go to bathroom real quick, alright? Try to make friends, please, it would be really cool, bro." Tavros smiled up at the juggalo, who ruffled his mohawk affectionately.

"Sure thing bro, you go take care of business."  
Gamzee watched Tavros depart, and when his gaze turned back to Sollux and Dave, there was no more of that calm mirth. His gaze was downright fucking terrifying, the way it suddenly pierced through the haze and fixated on Dave as if he could vaporize the man with his eyes alone.

"Is something wr-"

"I don't motherfucking like you."

Dave looked at Gamzee with his plain pokerface, not giving away anything. "Why's that?"

"I know what you motherfucking do with Tavbro. I'm gonna tell you right motherfucking now, quit messing around with my Tav unless you plan on goin' steady with him. It's fucking with his head. He holds you all up on this motherfucking pedestal and I know for a fact you're still handing out bones to other mutts. So either keep it in your motherfucking pants around my bro, or be only his. The choice is yours, motherf-" Gamzee cut off as Tavros opened the door, and the lanky man's stoned smile and glazed look returned.  
"Hey bro, you all good? Nature take it's course?"

"Haha, uh, yes Gamzee, I'm definitely and totally good now. Did you guys make friends?" Tavros looked between the three other males- Gamzee looking passive and loopy, Sollux looking wide-eyed, and Dave looking... really ho- er, deadpan.  
Andreallyhot-

"I guess you could say that," Dave responded coolly, his tone giving away nothing about what had transpired while Tavros was out of the room. The younger boy brightened considerably, as if he had just won the lottery or something.

"I hope it's alright that, uh, I brought Gamzee to look around, Dave... He was just, um, really curious about where I work, and asked if I could, uh, show him." Tavros gave the blonde a wide-eyed look, his smile hesitant and hopeful.

"Nah, it's fine. I think it's about time he left though. We've got work to do, and it'll be pretty hard if we've all got a contact high." Dave's voice was a little more icy that time, and he pivoted to go into the isolation booth. Sollux scrambled into his chair, not wanting to be part of any of this.

Tavros looked a little more sheepish, but nodded nonetheless. "O-Okay, sorry, Dave..." He looked at Gamzee, who was staring at Dave through the glass on the door.  
"Gamzee? Um, let's go now.."

Gamzee snapped back into reality, and smiled down at Tavros. "Oh, sure thing my main motherfucker." He then draped his arm over Tav's shoulders and headed out of the studio, leaving Sollux and Dave alone.

Sollux pushed down the button to speak to Dave, and quelled the anxiety in his voice. "Dude, that guy ith fucking crazy."  
Dave only rolled his eyes in response.

"Just start the damn music Captor," he mumbled, stepping up to the mic.

The rest of the session went without issue.

 

\---

 

Sollux slowly entered his apartment, peeking around to make sure Karkat definitely was not home yet. When he didn't hear A. loud music, B. shouting, or C. loud music and shouting, he decided it was probably safe to come in.  
He let out a deep, rolling sigh and flopped down on the couch, his head swimming. He just didn't feel good. His stomach ached, he felt tired and basically just out of commission.

Today was one of those days that Karkat would snuggle up to him on the couch, press his face into Sollux's chest and breath deeply, evenly, gripping his roommate's shirt as he fell asleep. Sollux would stay awake just a little longer to watch Karkat sleeping, and then he would pass out himself.

Sollux found himself hating John, fucking loathing him, even though he really was a nice kid. He just... Fuck, he hated himself the most. It was his own damn fault, he shouldn't take it out on John, but-  
The techie was shaken from his thoughts by the door opening, and normally he would open his eyes or something, but his head was pounding now in a sickeningly familiar way.

"... Sollux?" Karkat's voice was gritty and tired, and so, so amazing. Unfortunately, Sollux did not feel up to replying. Instead, he made a low, pained moan.  
"Fuck, Sollux, are you alright?" Sollux heard Karkat take off his coat and drop his bag; every sound was amplified to hell due to his steadily mounting headache.

"No," Sollux managed, the sound muffled into the couch cushions. Moments later- and several loud, pounding footsteps later- he felt a steady, soothing rubbing on his back, and it made him want to puke.  
"KK, thtop.."

"No. You've got a migraine, don't you?" The fact that Karkat knew him so well only pissed Sollux off more.

"Jutht leave me alone," Sollux groaned, but didn't expect it to work. He was correct.

"Sollux, I know how it gets when you've got a migraine, you ne-"

"Karkat jutht leave me alone alright?!" The techie instantly regretted snapping like that, as his head gave a defiant throb. The hand on his back was gone in an instant, and god damnit, why couldn't he stop fucking up....

Karkat was silent, intimidatingly silent, and Sollux felt like crying when his roommate just got up and walked away. Why, why, why couldn't he do anything right?  
He slowly, shakily stood up, staggering his way into the kitchen and squinting in the bright light. He rummaged through the medicine cabinet and grabbed his migraine medicine, shaking out two, when suddenly Karkat was there, like a fucking ninja.

"You're only supposed to take one," he said quietly, and snatched one of the pills to put it back. Karkat was always a nazi when it came to Sollux's medicine, ever since-

Well, Sollux didn't like to talk about that.

He grumbled a response and dry-swallowed the pill, before leaning over the counter and pressing his forehead to the cool surface. Karkat took the pill bottle with him into his room, and Sollux sighed deeply. It was sort of understandable that Karkat wouldn't trust him with a full bottle of pills, but it still hurt a little.

Sollux was... well, he was pretty much done for the day. He felt awful, he was exhausted, and maybe just a little bit depressed. So he stumbled into his room, stripped down to his boxers, and fell on the bed for a long, long sleep.

\---

No.

Hell no.

Hell.

Fucking.

No.

Sollux could not be sick. This was not a thing that was happening oh god no. No no no no no nonononono-

"Sollux, you have a fever, you're going to the doctor."

Damnit!

"No! I'm fucking fine! Khayyyykhayyyyy.... pleathe don't make me go to the walk-in, pleeeaaathe!" Sollux loathed the doctor. And by that, he was also terrified of the doctor. When the word doctor was mentioned, Sollux went from 'sexy tech stooge' to 'sexy wittle baby crying about a strep test' in five seconds flat.

"Sollux, come on, you're fucking twenty-two. This does not need to be a big deal. I will hold your hand. It will be OKAY." Karkat ran a brush through his messy hair, and Sollux peered out from under his blanket.

"You hate me, don't you? Ith that what thith ith about? You want me to die at the doctorth. I can thee right through your little ruthe Vantath. You are an evil mathtermind." He pouted sadly, offering a tiny whimper as Karkat tossed some clothes at him.

"Yes Captor, you have figured it out. I hate you, and that's why I want you to go to the goddamn doctor and get better. That is what everyone does to people they hate." Karkat rolled his eyes, letting out a slightly exaggerated sigh at the melodramatics.

"EKTHAKTLY."

Sollux pulled his clothes on and gave a withering cough, dragging himself around the house like a zombie while Karkat called Dave to let him know that Sollux was sick and couldn't come in. Sollux slumped on the couch, looking like a pitiful wilted flower, until Karkat gave him a smack on the shoulder.

"Come on fuckass, we're going to the walk-in."

The techie made a thin whining sound, but could offer no more objections as Karkat dragged him out to the car and drove him to the clinic.

 

\---

Sollux's foot was tap-tap-tapping away against the small footrest-type-thing on the bottom of the sick-people-chair-seat-thing, just watching the nurse as she slowly typed into her laptop, so, so slowly, using only her index fingers. If that wasn't torture enough already, Sollux still had to see the doctor.

"Alright Mr. Captor, the doctor will be in to see you soon." The nurse offered a curt smile, and then she was gone, leaving Karkat and Sollux alone in the room.

Sollux toyed with a loose string on his sleeve, listening to Take On Me coming from the speakers on the ceiling and letting out a small, pathetic cough.  
"KK?" The techie gave his friend a wide-eyed, sad puppy-dog face. "KK, will you take one of the gloveth and blow it up for me?"

"Are you fucking serious, Sollux?" Karkat didn't even need to ask. Of course Sollux was serious. He didn't play about doctor's office gloves. So, hoping the doctor wouldn't come in soon, Karkat quickly grabbed one of the latex gloves and started to blow it up.

"You do love me KK, you really do!" Sollux smiled like a giddy child, and Karkat thrust the glove at him.

Five minutes later, still waiting. Sollux was now reading Know Your Prostate, out loud, and showing Karkat all of the diagrams.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Scratch." The doctor finally appeared in the room, and Sollux set Know Your Prostate aside and tried to hide his silly glove. By shoving it up his shirt.  
"So you've got.. headache, sinuses, cough and fever. Mind if I...?" Doc Scratch held the otoscope up to Sollux, pressing a plastic cap on it.

"Yeth."

"NO, he does not." Karkat glared at Sollux, who withered under his gaze.

"Fiiiine..."

Sollux allowed the doctor to check his eyes, throat, and nose, check his heartbeat, but then came the moment of truth.

"I'm just gonna swab your throat, alright?"

Karkat saw the situation at hand and was at Sollux's side in a second, holding him as he thrashed around furiously.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! KEEP YOUR THTUPID THWABBY SHIT OUT OF MY MOUTH!" Sollux flailed wildly, a mess of limbs and rage as Doc Scratch watched in shock.

"It's just a swab, it's just a swab, five seconds Sollux it'll only take five seconds," Karkat chanted urgently, trying to pacify the hysterical techie. When finally Sollux had stopped freaking the fuck out, he was still panting and whimpering.

"Alright, just open your mouth and say 'ahhh', alright?" Sollux gulped and opened his mouth wide, saying 'ahhh' as Karkat stroked his arm soothingly.

And then it was done, and Sollux was gagging dramatically, and Karkat was rolling the fuck out of his eyes.

"... I did damn good," Sollux said proudly, puffing out his chest and wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes as Karkat facepalmed.

"Yes, Sollux. You did damn good."


	10. BFFSIES 4EVR

Sollux recovered from his illness fairly quick, which was largely due to Karkat's diligence in taking care of him. The short-fused boy was like a goddamn medicine Nazi- Sollux took his pills at exactly 10AM and exactly 10PM or god help him Karkat would flip his shit.

He had apparently just caught a little virus, nothing serious, but he had passed it on to Dave ("thanks a lot asshole im blaming you for this lung i coughed onto my table") so he was out of work for the week.  
He decided the best way to celebrate would be to go out, get drunk and have fun.  
It's not like anyone was around to stop him- As soon as Karkat was sure Sollux was healthy again, he went back to spending all his time with John. How they had suddenly become BFFSIES 4EVR was unknown to the techie, but he was pretty sure it had to do with Karkat's soft spot for glasses and the fact that both of them adored spectacularly shitty cinema.

Sollux fixed his hair under the thick fluorescents in the bathroom, tugging at his Deadmau5 hoodie and adjusting his belt. When he felt properly dressed up, he decided to text Karkat, at least to let him know what's up.

"hey kk. goiing out twoniight. you gonna be home at any poiint?"

"UNLIKELY. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"pLace."

"THAT PLACE IS FUCKING LAME."

"iidgaf. 2ee you twomorrow kk."

"WHATEVER ASSHOLE."

Sollux couldn't help a tiny twitch of a smile on his lips, pocketing his phone and doing a quick brush of his teeth. Maybe he should see if someone wants to go out with him?

Hm. Probably not Aradia, she's never been the drinking/partying type.  
Eridan? No. Too snooty. Although seeing him drunk would be fun.  
Gamzee? Maybe. He's always got a nice little drug fix when Sollux is feeling down, and he'd probably be kickass to party with.  
Dave? He's sick, otherwise that'd probably be cool.

Gamzee it is.

"hey gz."

"Oh HeY sOlBrO :o) dOn'T tAlK tO yOu AlL tHaT mOtHeRfUcKiNg OfTeN. wHaT's GoT yOu Up AnD gEtTiNg ThE gUmPtIoN tO tExT a BroThEr?"

"holy 2hiit gz that wa2 almo2t iillegiible. ii wanted two know iif you were up for goiing out two pLace and gettiing a few driink2."

"AwW sHiT yEaH! i'M aLwAyS uP fOr ChIlLin' WiTh My BeSt BrOs MaIn MaN :oD hOnK!"

"ii'm not hii2 maiin man anymore actually, but iit'2 w/e. ii'll be there iin twenty miinute2 or 2o."

"i'Ll Be ReAdY!"

Sollux grabbed his keys, pocketing them with his phone and heading out of the bathroom.  
He locked up before he left, made sure everything was secure (he had a robbery experience when he was six) and then got into his car, starting it up. The radio was blaring some of Karkat's shitty music (he has THE biggest fanboy boner for Taylor Swift) and Sollux quickly popped in his Coheed & Cambria CD.

When he got to Gamzee's place, he heard ICP blasting from the apartment. He was pretty sure the juggalo's neighbors HATED him. Sollux snickered and went up to the door, knocking firmly twice.  
He waited impatiently, shifting from foot to foot, and Gamzee finally answered.

"Hey motherfucker!" Sollux found himself taken up into a tight hug, and he coughed at the restricting arms around him.

"Shit! GZ, you're choking me!" Gamzee laughed, releasing the techie.

"Sorry bro! Sometimes I up and underestimate my own motherfucking strength."

"Ready to go?" Sollux wasn't gonna lie, Gamzee was strong as hell. Not as strong as Equius, Aradia's boyfriend, but he could definitely hold his own. It was kinda hot. Maybe if he hooked up with Gamzee, Karkat would get jealous and...  
No. Stoppit. He wasn't holding a grudge. Of course not. He was totally ok with Karkat moving on.  
...  
Sigh.

"Yup! Tavbro is hangin' with your motherfucking boss, taking care of him and shit, so I ain't gotta worry about comin' home late or whatever." Gamzee stepped out and locked the door behind him, before following Sollux to the car.

"Let'th get thith show on the road."

\---

Sollux didn't do drugs that often.

He used when he got really really depressed, started having really bad thoughts, got in one of his 'slumps' where he forgot to take care of himself and didn't shower for days, didn't eat for weeks.  
But sometimes, when he wants to have a good time, he can light up or pop pills. He doesn't shoot up- alright, well, maybe once. Not the point!

So right now, he was leaned up against a brick wall in an alley behind the club, passing a joint back and forth with Gamzee.

"Shiiiiit.." Gamzee exhaled comfortably, smoke billowing from his slightly parted lips. "Good stuff, ain't it?"  
Sollux nodded, taking a huge drag of the blunt and chuckling out the smoke. "Mm, yeah."

They were both just a little bit buzzed (a lot of bit) and now getting really high. And it was awesome.  
Not many people ventured back into the alleyway, so they were pretty much safe from being seen by anyone. Not that they would've cared. Majority of the people that go out to this club smoke too, so the only thing they'd have to worry about was somebody hassling them for a joint.  
Sollux was kind of spacing out right now. Kind of spacing out a hell of a lot. He was counting each individual brick on the wall behind Gamzee,  
"Wanna shotgun it motherfucker?" Sollux nodded casually, his lips quirking up at the corners. Gamzee smirked, taking another thick drag and then holding his breath, letting Sollux do the same. He then pulled him over, opening his mouth and exhaling into Sollux's.

Sollux breathed back, his eyes falling lidded from the smoke mingling between their lips. And then they were kissing, smoke and tongue and alcohol and it was fucking delicious. Gamzee pushed him up against the wall, one hand holding the blunt and bracing on the wall next to Sollux's head, while the other roamed up his shirt.

"Mmf-Nnghh-" Sollux felt a calloused thumb run over his nipple, and he shuddered against the tall stoner.  
"Shit, GZ. Wait."

Gamzee pulled back, sucking on Sollux's neck. "Mmmh.. Yeah bro?"

Sollux grunted a little, pressing his hips towards Gamzee's. "Mm.. My plathe?"

Gamzee pulled back, giving Sollux a lidded gaze and a smile. "Fuck yeah, dude."

This was going to be a long night.

\---

They barely even made it to the apartment, there was so much kissing and sucking and rutting, they were like fucking rabbits in springtime. Sollux fumbled with his keys as Gamzee licked and nipped at his ear, and when he finally got the door unlocked they kind of exploded inside.

Sollux stumbled backwards against the onslaught, falling back onto the couch while Gamzee started tearing off his belt, and everything was so quick and hot and needy, it was smothering.

Sollux's pants were quickly discarded, and Gamzee was on his hands and knees, licking and mouthing the techie through the fabric of his boxers and relishing in the drawn-out groan.

"Nnnghh, shit, GZ-" Sollux's hand snapped out, fisting a handful of crazy, kinky black hair and panting hungrily.  
Then, he heard a noise.

Gamzee apparently didn't hear, because he was pulling Sollux's boxers down and off, but Sollux kinda froze.  
"GZ, wait, thtop- Hng!- Wait a fucking thecond- ahhhh-" He kind of gave up on trying to speak after that, because Gamzee was taking him in his mouth down to the hilt and his dick was grazing the back of the clown's throat.

"Ohhhh fuuuck~!" Sollux's head fell back against the couch cushions, while Gamzee hummed in amusement around his length. The stoner was sucking and licking and it was sloppy and silly and hot as sin.

Sollux kind of forgot about the fact that he had heard a noise, now entirely focused on guiding Gamzee's head with the hand in his hair, and the way he felt the pleasure mounting in his groin in the most deliciously perfect way...

He felt Gamzee cupping his balls and wow, shit that felt nice, and paired with everything else it was nigh on overwhelming.  
However, instead of him just melting from all the heat and the pleasure, he came hard, shooting the hot white liquid back into Gamzee's throat with a guttural groan. He could feel Gamzee swallowing each little pulse of come, and that was even hotter than he thought possible.

"Shiiit, Gamzee.." Sollux panted shallowly, trying to catch his breath as he came down off his orgasm. Gamzee was licking his lips and sitting back on his heels, the large lump in his jeans far too obvious.

Sollux was just gonna have to draw this night out a while longer.

\---

Sollux wasn't sure at what point they moved to his room, but apparently they did, because he woke up in his bed, tangled up in Gamzee's limbs. He remembered choice parts of the previous night, not all of it- it was probably better that way.

"GZ. Get your fat athh off of me." Sollux wiggled beneath the bind of gangly arms and legs, to no avail. Gamzee was snoring loudly, completely naked spare a dogtag necklace.  
"Ugh!" Sollux shoved Gamzee off, pulling on bee-patterned boxers and stumbling his way out of the room. He went towards the bathroom, and- the fuck?

"... KK?" Someone was in the bathroom, the door was locked and the light was on. "KK are you in there?"  
Sollux didn't get a response, so he knocked a little more insistently.

"KK open the damn door or at leatht ANTHWER me." Knock knock knock knock knock-

"Sollux. Go. Away."

"..." Sollux had a feeling that Karkat wasn't happy with him. Did he look in Sollux's room and see Gamzee or something? That would probably be something Karkat would get pissed over.

"KK. What'th wrong?"

Silence.

"God damnit will you-"

"I was HERE last night you dumb fuck."

Oh.  
OH.  
Well.

"... Thorry? Am I not allowed to have thekth in thith apartment anymore?"

"Not with my fucking friends!" Karkat opened the door, glaring up at Sollux.

"Why the fuck not?" Sollux's thin arms crossed over his chest, and he felt his brow furrow. Karkat wasn't his fucking MOM.

"Because- because they're MY friends!" Karkat was snarling and bristling like an angry little kitten, and Sollux would find it cute under other circumstances.

"Well that'th too bad! You can bring home whoever the fuck you want, tho why can't I? You need to get over yourthelf." He glared at Karkat, his mismatched eyes flashing slightly.

"No. No more fucking in this apartment. Period."

All Sollux could do was stare, dumbfounded, for about 7 seconds. And then he was pissed.

"EkthCUTHE me? Thinthe when did you become the all-mighty authority on thith apartment? You work at a fucking shitty movie theatre, and you're on the brink of being FIRED becauthe you're tho anti-thocial and athhole-ish. Who payth majority of the billth Karkat? Oh, ith that me? Hm! Interethting!"  
Karkat was staring wide-eyed, aware that Sollux was delving into a bipolar swing- but the techie didn't give him a chance to interrupt.

"Tho guethh what? You're gonna have to deal with me fucking whoever the hell I want in thith apartment that _I_ pay for, and whether or not they are your friendth ith jutht too bad! GZ wath a fucking _beatht_ , and I might have him over more often. Tho I think you're jutht gonna have to shove it up your athh." He pivoted and headed back into his room, scowling and clenching his fists.

Karkat stood wide-eyed, watching Sollux leave in awe.

He didn't want to admit it. He would never admit it to anyone.  
But he misses Sollux.  
He misses the random snuggles on the couch, the moments where they would randomly pass through the same room, make eye contact, and end up with Karkat pinned against the wall being assaulted with affection; he missed when Sollux hugged him when he was screaming and swayed until he stopped.  
He missed his best friend, and he knew this would happen someday, that one of them would move on and start a real relationship and they would grow apart.  
But he didn't want it to be now.

\---

10:30AM. Work.

5:30PM. Get off work.

6:00PM. Dinner with Aradia (nowhere Italian).

7:30PM Go grab some things from the store.

8:15PM ~~Movies with Karkat~~ Movies with Feferi.

Sollux had another best friend, and her name was Feferi.

It might be weird, but Sollux has dated a lot of his friends. He can't really help it, he just doesn't like to be alone. Okay, that's not true- he loves to be alone. He likes staying in his room for hours and days on end, coding and gaming and forgetting the word hygiene.  
But when it comes to relationships, he likes to be in one. He likes the physical contact, and the emotional contact. Being in a relationship keeps him out of his room- which, however much he likes, he knows is bad for him to stay in for days at a time.  
And when he's single, he has a bad habit of whoring around. Just a little. (Or a lot).

So, it should be little surprise that Feferi is also an ex of his. They had a brief stint just after Sollux and Aradia broke up- it was a great relationship, but they decided friendship was the better route, as with him and Aradia. But he still found her impeccably beautiful, cheerful, smart, and a definite pick-me-up when he was having a bad day.

So he headed over to her house at 8:15 to watch a few movies on demand. Before him and Karkat's argument, he was going to do so with him, to try and bring them back together as friends. But of course everything had to go right to shit with the whole Gamzee ordeal the day before, so he asked Feferi to hang out and spend some quality time.

Feferi was a marine biologist, fresh out of school. Her parents were quite rich, and yet despite their constant offers for financial support, Feferi didn't let them help with anything past paying for her home. They bought her a fair middle-class home uptown, where she lived alone with her extensive collection of exotic fish. Cuttlefish were by far her favorite, though- She had at least 8, and had names for all of them.

"FF, what the fuck- agh!" Sollux stumbled elegantly through the clutter, his leg getting splashed with water from an almost overturned tank that he tripped over.  
"Nobody needth thith many fish!"

Feferi giggled and waved him off with a hand, the other hand gripping his and leading him to her room. It was a bit clearer in there- not much, but it at least had a walkway.

They sat down on her rich purple-pink comforter, and she looked through onDemand.

"Hey FF?"

"Yes, Sollux?"

"How are you?"

Sollux looked down at his lap, his hand reaching out and taking Feferi's. It was a friendly gesture, nothing more.  
She smiled at him, all pink lips and perfect teeth.

"I'm doing just fine! I have a ton of stuff going on, but I'm shoal I can do it."  
Another thing about Feferi: She liked using fish puns.

"You need to come fishit me more often! I miss your silly face." She giggled again, poking his cheek in confirmation. "I'll drag you away from your little studio and we can go skating or get some dinner or just hang out."

Sollux's lips quirked into a smile, and he gave her hand a little squeeze. Feferi really was amazing. He would rank her right up there with Aradia as one of his closest companions. Karkat used to be up there, but... Shit. He didn't even know the deal there.

"And another thing! You told me you and Karcrab were having frondship fishues. Do you wanna talk about that?" Feferi gave him a genuinely concerned look, and Sollux responded with a dejected sigh.

"Honethtly? I SHOALD- damnit, should. I meant. Should." Feferi laughed at that- her stupid fish puns were contagious.  
"Anywayth. Yeah, I SHOULD talk about it, but I think right now what I really want ith to jutht watch a shitty movie and think about anything BUT that. Ith that alright? Can we do that minuth a guilt trip?"

Feferi smiled at him, rays of sunshine and bubbles and glitter.

"Of course we can, Sollux."


	11. Printhethh

It was 8:26 in the evening when Karkat and Sollux finally aired things out.  
But it didn't happen the way either of them expected it to.

Karkat was out at John's, as per usual. They had movie nights all the time, so Sollux didn't think much of it. He was watching Mythbusters on Netflix, sitting on the couch in the living room.  
It was chilly out, nearing December, and so Sollux was wearing a fuzzy bee-themed sweater, wrapped up in his favorite red and blue blanket. Karkat had gotten it for him last Christmas, actually, and it had a little Cancer symbol twined with a Gemini symbol on one of the corners. Sollux.. Kind of avoided looking at that corner lately.

Just as something exploded on-screen, the door flew open and then shut violently. A familiar rant hit Sollux's ears-

"Stupid fucking dumbass hyperactive shitstain!"

Instinctively, Sollux looked over and patted the couch next to him. He was more than a little shocked to see tears pricking the corner of Karkat's eyes. Karkat was a crybaby sometimes, but that was usually when Sollux got in one of his depressive states and Karkat would find out how long it had been since Sollux had eaten or how he had dumped a bottle of pills into his palm and just thought about it.

Either way, despite the recent strain on their relationship, Karkat headed over and flopped down on the couch. Sollux paused the show and shifted a little, facing Karkat and setting a hand on his shoulder warily.

"Tell me what happened."

Karkat's shoulders were shaking with suppressed tears, and Sollux felt a thick pang of pity for his friend. Of course, pity had no emotional significance to him, and the mere idea that it could mean anything more than platonic broship was lost on his totally human psyche.

Karkat took in a deep, shuddery breath, and wiped his eyes feverishly.   
"I was watching a movie with John and we were sort of cuddling, and then the movie ended and his hand was on my leg and I leaned over and gave him a kiss, and he was kind of still and surprised at first but then he kissed BACK for a minute.." Karkat sniffled, and Sollux tried not to grit his teeth so hard.  
"But then I kind of tried to make it a deeper sort of kiss and he suddenly just shoved me away and started rambling and babbling stupid s-SHIT about how he was 'not a homosexual, K-Karkat' and then told me I should go."

By the end of Karkat's rant, he was pressing his face to Sollux's chest and sobbing softly. Sollux responded by making calm cooing and shushing noises, pulling the smaller boy up against him and stroking his back.

"It's not fucking FAIR," Karkat sputtered, blunt nails catching on Sollux's shirt as he gripped it. "Why would he lead me on like that??"

Sollux wanted to point out that maybe Karkat was just misreading signals, but the fact that John apparently returned the kiss at first made it a little more heavy than that.

"I don't know, KK. Maybe he'th jutht confuthed about hith thexuality." He rubbed Karkat's back a little more firmly. Karkat's arms removed themselves from where they had gotten sort of trapped between their torso's, and instead wrapped around Sollux's middle.

"I should never have fallen for that fucking moron," He mumbled, punctuating it with a solemn sniffle. "I should have just... Accepted your offer."

Sollux froze at that. He really couldn't help it, because holy shit. What?

"I fucking miss you." Sollux trembled just a little, and he felt Karkat's hand sliding over to his hip. There was a moment of hesitation, and then Karkat's fingers were kneading that one spot on the bony hip that he knew drove Sollux insane.

"KK, thtop, we shouldn't..." He trailed off, because Karkat sniffled calmly and leaned up, lips fastening on Sollux's neck.

The situation- Karkat ranting about John, and then them having sex on the couch- was a complete deja vu. But this time, Sollux was kind of TRYING to fight it. This wasn't right. This was not the way they should be reconciling.

"I fucking missed your touch, and your taste.." Fuck. Karkat was /talking/. Damn him and his knowledge of Sollux's weak spots-  
He was gently pushing the techie down now, pinning him down on the couch, Sollux's upper half semi-propped on the armrest. Karkat was straddling his hips, and Sollux was staring with a dumbfounded expression.

"KK, theriouthly, we /shouldn't/-"

"I especially missed your cock."

Sollux sputtered at that, all coherent thought lost.

And Karkat was shifting back, tossing the blanket aside and fumbling with Sollux's pants button.

Sollux knew he should totally refuse. This was not right on so many levels.   
But he also knew he was half hard from the rubbing and the words and how much he /missed/ those strong, almost graceful hands touching him and stripping him...

Karkat was pulling Sollux's pants down now, and pressing the heel of his palm against the hardness a-and...  
Sollux completely lost any willpower he had. He was going to fuck Karkat and he was going to love it.

His hands grabbed Karkat's shoulders and he jerked him down, pulling him into a wet kiss- his tongue entered Karkat's mouth before their lips ever connected.   
He slipped his hands under Karkat's baggy gray thermal, thumbs running over soft pink nipples and soliciting a quiet sigh.

"Mmf- I fucking mithhed you tho much," Sollux near whined, pulling Karkat's shirt up over his head and attacking his nipple with little nips and sucks.   
"I never thtopped wanting to jutht throw you down againtht the floor and thuck your big deliciouth dick, watch you writhe and moan my name..."   
He felt Karkat shiver, and his tongue flicked the hardened nub and took it into his mouth with a hard suck.

"Ah- Sollux-" Karkat wiggled above Sollux, his cheeks tinted pink. "Please- hn- fuck me already.."

Sollux growled in a near feral way at that, pulling off his fluffy sweater. "Take your pantth off," he breathed, and Karkat eagerly moved off of Sollux to strip down to his boxers.   
"Thothe gotta go too," he ordered, starting to pull his own pants down. He was trying really, really hard not to think about this, because if he did, he might stop.

He stared at Karkat's half-hard length, licking his lips- Karkat was short, but fuck, his dick had always been bigger than Sollux's.   
Karkat pulled Sollux's boxers off and lay down between his legs, his lips closing around the techie's tip and sucking softly.

"Annhh... Shit.." Sollux's hips twitched up into the wet heat, his eyes falling heavy lidded. He reached out and knit his fingers into the thick brunette hair, rubbing the short man's scalp and trying to coax him further down on his length.   
Karkat's wide, flat tongue ran wetly over the head in his mouth, his nostrils flaring slightly to take in air as he started bobbing down on Sollux. His hand went down, cupping Sollux's scrotum and rubbing it with his thumb.

"Ahhh.. fuck.. KK, get /up/ here and ride me.."

Karkat pulled back, licking the slit almost teasingly as a little bit of milky white welled up from Sollux's arousal.   
"It's been a while," Karkat breathed, looking up at his roommate with a lustful gaze. "I might need a little stretching..."

Sollux whined in displeasure, but he couldn't be TOO upset when Karkat was crawling up and sitting on his abdomen, leaning back and spreading his legs.

"Nnh.. Fine," Sollux mumbled, sticking his fingers in Karkat's mouth without asking. Karkat hesitated in surprise, and then started to run his tongue over digits and suck on them sensually. He swirled the dextrous muscle around, sliding it between Sollux's fingers and making small hums and sighs.

"F-Fuck, KK, that'th good... Thtop..." He took his hand back, panting gently with desire. He pressed a finger to Karkat's entrance, hearing the soft sigh from the short boy above him.   
"Mm.. You like that..?" He started pushing the finger in, and Karkat only moaned heatedly in response.   
"Yeah.. I bet you do. You always loved getting fucked.."

Karkat keened above him, his head angling up towards the ceiling as he felt Sollux's finger starting to thrust slowly and curl into the sensitive places inside him...   
"Ohhhhhshit~.. Yesss..."   
Karkat's legs spread further, and Sollux introduced the second finger eagerly so he could scissor them and stretch Karkat out for him.

"Ah- Ah- Waitwaitwait goback!" Karkat bucked up a little as Sollux brushed his prostate momentarily, only to move to a different area.

"Oh? You like that?" He moved back to press into the bump, and Karkat groaned in response.

"Ahhhh... Yeah..."

Sollux removed his fingers, wiping them on the cushions and leaning up to kiss Karkat deeply. The short boy sighed into his mouth, and Sollux pulled back slightly to stroke his roommates face.

"Ready KK...?" His voice was soft, and he looked down at where Karkat was positioning himself.

"Very." Karkat slowly started lowering himself down, impaling himself, and Sollux saw stars.

"Ahhh-!" Karkat's head fell back, his concentration slipping as he fell down quickly onto Sollux.   
"Ohhh yesssss--"

Sollux groaned audibly in response, hands gripping Karkat's hips and holding him down. It was so small and tight and perfect, and... Karkat.  
"Fuck, yethh-"

Karkat started to lift himself up and down on Sollux, the techie helping him eagerly by guiding his roommates hips.   
Karkat dropped his chest down against Sollux's, crashing their lips together hungrily and digging crescent-shaped grooves in his shoulders.

"Missed you... missed you so f-fucking much, nnngh.."

Sollux returned the kisses eagerly, his eyes shut tightly in overwhelming sensation. This was all too much and too sudden- for fuck's sake, he had been watching goddamn Mythbusters in a fuzzy sweater. And then Karkat had come home after getting rejected and started initiating this and-  
...  
And Sollux was stupid for not realizing that this was rebound sex.

He almost stopped right there, but Karkat was sliding back and forth, moaning and gripping at his shoulders and whispering huskily into his ear.  
Maybe he could deal with being rebound sex for now.

\---

Sollux cuddled Karkat up against his chest, feeling the smaller man breathe evenly in his sleep. They had gone on like that for two fucking hours. Two fucking hours, and he had come three times. It was fucking amazing, everything he had been wanting and needing and more.  
But...

He had time to think now. He had time to think about everything, about him and Karkat and Karkat and John and it was kind of painful. What if Karkat just went right back to John after this? Decided he would try and make John rethink his 'not a homosexual' claim? He doubted it would be hard, Karkat was really hot when he wanted to be and John was so easily flustered and probably a virgin and-  
He was getting a text.

"hey sol wwherevve you been i havvent seen you around the record shop lately"

Sollux sighed deeply- he had been getting texts like this from Eridan over and over and over for the past week, and it was getting fucking annoying.

"yeah, ummm. ii've been kiinda bu2y lately. and ii haven't had any rea2on two go."

"oh wwell do you maybe wwanna hang out or somefin on your next day off"

"maybe. iidk. ii'm kiinda iin a biind riight now, can we talk about thii2 later?"

"wwhats goin on"

"ii had 2ex wiith my 2ort-of ex but not really cau2e we were never really datiing, but ii wa2 pretty much a rebound."

Eridan must have had something better to do, because Sollux didn't get any reply. Which, again, gave him more time to think. Shit.

He had sex with Karkat. This was a thing that happened. And it was really, really good. As always with Karkat.  
But Sollux was just a rebound. Karkat and him... The odds of them seriously being together? It wasn't likely.

Sollux looked down at Karkat- his usually hardened expression and furrowed brow released in his sleep, and he looked adorable and peaceful. It almost hurt to look at.

Sollux closed his eyes, letting his head fall against the armrest of the couch. Karkat gave him a tiny squeeze in his sleep, some incoherent babble, and then Sollux slipped into the darkness.

\---

When he came to, he was alone. Still laid out on the couch, naked, his red and blue blanket draped over him.   
He sat up, awkwardly scratching the back of his head and looking at the clock. He still had plenty of time to get to work, which he was seriously dreading. He was never gonna be able to focus after last night.

He saw a note settled on the table, and he was almost afraid to read it. But he picked it up nonetheless, staring at the messy all-caps scribble.

"WENT OUT. I WON'T BE BACK UNTIL LATE TONIGHT OR TOMORROW.  
I THINK WE SHOULD TALK WHEN I DO GET BACK THOUGH.  
HAVE A GOOD DAY AT WORK SOLLUX.  
-KARKAT"

Sollux was immediately pulling out his phone and texting Karkat. There was no fucking way he was gonna wait that long to talk to him.

"where diid you go."

"OUT."

"kk tell me where the fuck you are."

"I'M NOT GONNA TELL YOU SOLLUX. JUST CALM THE HELL DOWN AND STOP WORRYING. I'M FINE."

"kk what the hell do you expect me two do when you have 2ex wiith me and then ju2t leave wiith no explanatiion?"

"... SOLLUX PLEASE. I CAN'T DO THIS RIGHT NOW. LET ME JUST HAVE SOME TIME, ALRIGHT?"

"do you have any iidea how 2elfii2h you are 2ometiime2?"

"I'M SORRY."

"w/e. have fun w/ john."

"..."

"thought 2o."

Sollux chucked his phone at the wall, barely even wincing at the loud crack and the new little dent in the plaster. He threw the blanket off and pulled on some clothes, going into the kitchen and opening the medicine cabinet.

"Where.. ith.."   
Aha.  
He opened the little baggie, shaking out a pill and dry swallowing it.

There.  
Now he would make it through the day.

\---

Sollux ended up walking to work, because he was kind of out of it.

And by 'kind of'....

"Oh my gosh, hath anyone ever told you you have GORGEOUTH HAIR?"   
He stopped a random woman on the sidewalk, who stared at him in confusion.

"Uh... thanks? I really have to go-"

"It'th THOOO PRETTY." He was smiling in awe, inspecting the lady's curls.

"I really should be-"

"Who thtyleth it? Ugh. I wish MINE wath that shiny.."

The woman ended up just walking away, and Sollux continued his lazy walk to work, all smiles and sunshine.

When he got into the recording studio, Dave was waiting impatiently for him. He was seated in Sollux's cushy seat, drumming on the side of his shoe with one leg crossed and the other planted firmly on the ground.  
When Sollux walked in, he took out his earbuds and stared up at the techie.

"Glad to see you decided to join me," he drawled sarcastically, hauling himself up out of the chair and into his slightly slouched standing position.   
"I was debating whether or not to just fire your ass, you know. You're more trouble than you-"

Dave was elegantly cut off with a little 'oof' of shock, as Sollux wrapped him up in a big tight hug.

"You thmell like vanilla," Sollux breathed, sniffing heavily.

"Oh my god Captor what the fuck is wrong with you." Dave stood stock-still, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Nothing ith wrong! Everything ith perfect and beautiful." He picked Dave up and spun him around, and Dave wrenched himself out of the grip.

"Dude. Fuck. Stop. I don't know what's up with you, but we have /work/ to do, alright? So just. Sit your ass down and get to work."

Sollux chuckled as he sat down, watching Dave dreamily as he went into the isolation booth. He spotted Tavros out of his peripheral vision, watching Dave with a dumb little grin.   
He waved jubilantly at Tav, who flushed pink at being caught staring and waved back shyly.

Dave peered out of the booth, scowling at Sollux venomously.   
"Put on the damn headphones!"

Sollux stuck his tongue out at Dave, putting the headphones onto his head and staring at the setup. He suddenly didn't understand anything.  
He did, though, remember which button to push to talk to Dave.

"Thtriiiidderrrr. Which button.. thtartth the muthic again?"

"Oh my god."

After a few minutes of intense, angry direction, Sollux got the music started. He sat in awe as the beat thumped into his ears, the rhythmic drum of the bass making him feel all   
warm and fuzzy.

Dave was rapping smoothly into the microphone, staring at Sollux expectantly. Why wasn't he moving any fucking dials? Anything?!   
Why- wait. What was he doing. He... what. The. Fuck.

Dave took off his headphones and exited the isolation booth, staring at Sollux. He apparently hadn't even noticed that the words stopped. He was just dancing his little heart out, listening to the music and jamming the fuck out with his eyes closed. Dave walked over and turned odd the music, which finally got the techie's attention.   
He looked over at Dave with big, confused eyes, pouting.

"Where did the pretty muthic go?"

"Why-" Dave hesitated, taking a step forward and squinting. He distinctly remembered Sollux having a russet brown eye and a deep blue eye. Not two black eyes.

"Sollux. Where did your irises go?"

Sollux was quiet for a moment, and then started sputtering and chuckling like he was trying to hold back hysterics.  
"Oh, they're jutht... in the garden!"   
And then he was gone, laughing like a hyena.   
Dave was not amused.

"I meant the iris of your eye dumbass, not the flower." He looked at Sollux expectantly, and the taller man's face grew serious.

"Maybe they're behind my eye petuniath." Another fresh round of hysterics.

"I will smack you. Sollux. What the fuck did you take?" He grabbed Sollux's shoulders, forcing him to look into his.. shades.  
"Tell me."

Sollux thought for a moment, and then smiled. "Ekthtathy," he replied lazily.

Dave growled at that, shoving Sollux down in the cushy chair and taking out his phone. He shot a quick few texts back and forth with John, and then received a call moments later.

"Hey, is this Karkat? Yeah."

Sollux looked up at the mention of Karkat. "KK? What about KK?"

"Yeah, Sollux is fine. More than fine, I'd say. He is on what scientists call CLOUD FUCKING NINE. He's high out of his mind. Because he TOLD me. .. Ecstasy. .. No I don't know where the fuck he got it, do you think I'm dealing out here? Everybody step around the back, I've got CD's and E!"  
There was a pause on the line, which made Sollux ALMOST nervous. But then he saw a blinking light on the soundboard and everything was okay and pretty.

"Okay. Yeah. No, yeah, that's fine. Shit. Okay. Bye." Dave hung up the phone, glaring down at Sollux.  
"Alright, Karkat said he had some really important shit to take care of, so I'm taking his word for it. Which means you're coming back to my place until you sober up. Got it?"

Sollux looked up at Dave wide-eyed, smiling rainbows. "Got it."

Dave rubbed his temples, sighing deeply. "Okay. Fuck. You know, I could fire you. I could fire you so fast."  
But Dave knew that he wouldn't. When Sollux WASN'T being a major fuckup, he was pretty cool to talk to, and he got shit done. Fast.

"Come on, princess, let's go home."


	12. Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry.

Sollux had this interesting habit of being really honest when he was on drugs. In fact, he was probably way more honest than anyone around him could possibly be comfortable with.

There's just something to be said about a guy who shares the intricate details of the aspiration of an infected abscess from when he was young. 

But, despite the occasional disgusting details, Dave didn't seem too phased. In fact, he seemed quite interested. He was letting the still pretty high techie put his hair in numerous random hair ties, and it was awful and hideous and the most hilarious thing ever.   
And while he was doing so, he was listening. He was listening especially so when Sollux started talking about Karkat.

"Tho, bathically, he wath like, my BETHT FRIEND, and everything, but we altho fucked a whole lot." Sollux pulled another chunk of Dave's hair into a pink hair tie. He had several that Feferi had given to him. He fucking insisted they picked them up on the way to Dave's.  
"Yeah?" Dave sounded generally impassive, but he was pretty curious. "Past tense?"

Sollux sighed witheringly. "I dunno, thorta? We jutht fucked latht night, like, three timeth, for a few hourth, but then he left before I woke up and thpewed thome mythteriouth bullshit at me even though I know he wath with John. Athhole made me a rebound." 

Dave was having very mixed emotions here. One: damn, three times? Two: Wow, being a rebound sucks. Three: No really, three times?  
"How did he make you a rebound?"  
PAUSE. "Wait. Did he put the moves on John?" 

Sollux nodded, quiet for a moment before remembering that he was behind Dave and the guy couldn't see him doing it.   
"Yeah. Apparently he kithhed John, and the guy kithhed back, until KK tried to thtick hith tongue in there and John went all no-homo." 

Dave snickered at that, and then winced with a mumble along the lines of "fuck, quit pulling".   
"Story of my life, dude. If Vant-ass wanted to make a man out of Egbert, I could have told him right off the bat that it's like pulling big, derpy teeth." 

Sollux contemplated that for longer than a normal, sober person would.   
"Waaiiit..."  
Come on Sollux, you can do it...  
"Do you mean..."   
Almost there...  
"You tried to theduthe John at thome point?"  
There you go, buddy.

Dave shrugged, and wow, he hadn't wanted this to shift into being about him.   
"What do you mean tried? I succeeded." He pulled out a packet of cigarettes, and then cussed and put them back in his pocket. It was his last one, and he didn't need it THAT badly right now.

"Only once, though, and it wasn't that big of a deal. We were drunk and horny, I laid on some smooth moves, and then we fucked."   
Smooth moves. Right, Dave. You threw up in an empty coffee pot.   
Then again, that does say something about his persuasion skills, if he could still get John in bed.

"That'th what happened with me and Gamzee!" A pause. "Well, thorta. It wath more like, we were drunk, and high, and horny, and inthtead of any thmooth moveth, we jutht kinda thtarted making out while we were thmoking pot." 

Whoa, wait. Gamzee? 

"... You fucked Gamzee."

"Yeth."

"Tavros' roommate."

"Yeth."

"The tall stoner juggalo."

"Yeth."

"The one that hates me."

"Yeth."

"... So, who else have you fucked that I might know?" 

Sollux seemed to seriously contemplate that question for a few moments. "Well, I've fucked KK, GZ, AA, FF-"

"Full names. Jesus."

"Karkat, Gamzee, Aradia, Feferi, Eridan-"

"Wait, Eridan like, that guy from the record store? The hipster you made out with? You actually fucked him?" 

Sollux had totally forgotten that whole ordeal where Dave was at the record store. Weird.  
"Yeah, like twithe or thomething. Firtht I jutht thucked hith dick, and then I left inthtead of getting him off 'cauthe I had to talk to KK. But then, onthe KK rejected me becauthe he wath all over John, I went thtraight to hith apartment and made him thcream." 

Dave would not even deny the little shiver there. Yeah, high Sollux was extremely blunt, and fuck if he minded. It was getting him a little hot and bothered though.   
"Huh. I don't know Aradia or Feferi," he commented. "Whores?" 

Sollux gave Dave's hair a strong tug for that, receiving an expletive-laden protest.   
"Never call them whoreth. They're ektheth of mine, and the thweetetht girlth you'd ever meet." It got quiet for a moment, as Sollux concentrated on braiding a small section of Dave's hair and Dave was still thinking about Sollux making Eridan scream. 

"Have you actually fucked Tavroth?" Sollux was the one to break the silence with a curious inquiry.

Dave's mouth didn't know whether to quirk up or quirk down. He was torn.

"Nah," he admitted honestly, thinking for a moment. "I've gotten him off plenty of times, but I haven't done anything more than that. I was planning on it, but I'm pretty sure if I did, he would think it was more than what it is, and... Yeah, I already feel kinda shitty that he's as attached as he is already, so I don't wanna exacerbate it." 

Sollux nodded a little in understanding, pulling all the little hair ties out of Dave's fair blonde locks and gently finger-combing the tangles out.   
"You theriouthly thmell like vanilla," he mumbled, leaning in and sniffing his hair.   
"I like it."

Dave chuckled, standing up and sitting back next to Sollux on the couch. Apparently, the Captor hair salon was closing up for the day.   
"Well I'm glad I can be otolaryngologically pleasing to you."

"... Oh my god, ith that a real freaking word?"

"I don't know. I think so." 

"Jethuth." 

Dave chuckled again, and then let his pokerface replace itself as Sollux spoke next. And holy shit, did he need it.

"Hey Thtrider, why did you kithh me that one day?"

Dave sucked in a deep breath, exhaling it in one large rush of air. This was going to be delightful.  
"I was drunk, your tongue was hot, end of story." 

The techie's nose scrunched up a little bit at that. "That'th boring. You didn't want my hot bod?" 

Dave managed to crack a little smile at that. Fucking Captor.   
"Oh, of course I did. Who in their right mind wouldn't? What, all one-hundred and thirty pounds of lanky, sharp edges? Mm. Sign me up." 

Sollux laughed, giving Dave a little shove.  
"Eheheh. Athhole. I bet you're no better. Alwayth wearing thothe big hoodieth and baggy shirtth. I bet you're actually chubby." 

Dave's eyebrows raised, and yes, of course this meant war.  
He pulled off his baggy red hoodie, eyes trained on Sollux from behind the black lenses of his shades. He then casually pulled his shirt up to expose his abdomen, fixing the techie with an extremely cocky stare.

Sollux was a little at a loss. Karkat was semi-muscular, more lean than anything, but Dave was... kind of built. Like, Jesus, can I reach out and touch you kind of built.  
Of course, seeing as Sollux was high and didn't have any shame, he didn't ask. He just reached over and ran a palm over Dave's abs.

"Dang."

Dave snickered half-heartedly, a little more focused on Sollux's hand on his bare skin than anything else. Warmth seeped from his palm into Dave's flesh, and he subconsciously swiped his tongue over his lips.

"... Nithe," Sollux mumbled, his hand trailing up and running over Dave's chest. Dave gently bit the inside of his lip, feeling the palm run flatly over his sternum, and soft, pale pinkish nipples. 

"Yeah, I know. Are you gonna continue lovingly stroking my chest? Should I get my phone out and start playing Angry Birds while I wait for you to finish?" Dave hoped so.

"Dependth. Do you want me to thtop?" Sollux wiggled his tongue teasingly, and god damnit, Dave wanted to take that tongue for himself, right fucking now. 

"I'd rather you didn't," He responded, tongue swiping over his lips so it would be occupied.   
Sollux hummed gently, leaning down and flicking his tongue over a nipple and god damn.

"But," he said quickly, suppressing a shiver, "you should stop. You're way too high right now, and-" He had to cut off there, because Sollux was starting to suck, and he was exhaling shakily with sensation.   
Dave leaned back against the couch, his eyes falling shut behind his shades as Sollux started to climb halfway on top of him, sucking and licking like it was his goddamn job. It was exhilarating, and Dave found him tangling his fingers into Sollux's (surprisingly soft) hair, pulling him closer.

"Mm." Sollux looked up at Dave with lidded eyes, lips quirking into a slight smile as his split tongue ran over the hardened pink nub.   
Dave was pretty sure it wasn't fair that Sollux looked that good even when high, but was he going to complain? No. No he was not.

Especially not when Sollux was starting to straddle his lap, sucking and nipping, hands up higher on his chest and holding the shirt out of the way. Dave felt the skinny male calmly grind his hips down, and Dave was anything but calm because wow, that felt good, and he should not be doing this.

"Sollux, seriously though, I'd love for this to happen if you weren't still sorta high- and you're probably making me be your rebound and that's not cool-"

Dave stopped there, hearing the door swing open. There was a gasp and a "What the fuck?!", and Dave jerked away from Sollux slightly despite the techie not seeming to give a shit.

"Sollux, get off!" He shoved Sollux off of him, pulling his shirt back down. Sollux frowned at him, brow furrowed, until finally he kind of registered the voices.   
Sollux turned to look at the door, sitting back on his heels and pausing. Of course it was John and Karkat, why did he think it would be anyone else? They were both wide-eyed, and John was looking away with a thick red blush while Karkat stared straight at him with a matching one. 

"Good fucking god, Sollux, can you go a single day without trying to jump somebody? It's disgusting." Karkat's lip curled, and Dave felt like saying 'Dude, it's your fault'. But he refrained.

Sollux, however, had no such inhibitions.

"Tho ith uthing your tho-called betht friend ath a rebound," he snapped, rolling his eyes. Karkat's self-righteous attitude was starting to get to him. He didn't like it. Karkat was taken aback for just a moment, not expecting the snap, but he managed to recompose himself quickly enough. 

"I didn't use you as a rebound, and even if I did want a rebound, I could do better." 

Sollux was (extremely) shocked at that confrontational response. He had not been expecting that one. Did Karkat suddenly hate him? Was that a thing?

"Jeguth, KK, what'th your problem all of a thudden? You weren't acting like thith latht night," he sneered, and the high was definitely starting to wear off. He could tell, because he was pissed. He was never pissed when the ecstasy was really strong.   
Dave and John were both watching kind of dumbly, as the two argued some more.

"Last night was a mistake. One that I'd rather not revisit. I wasn't thinking clearly. It meant nothing."

Sollux felt like he had just gotten stabbed in the heart. Ouch. That was probably the most painful thing he had ever experienced. He was staring at Karkat, mouth ajar, thinly veiled shock plain on his face.   
Finally, he got up, stepping over to Karkat slowly. The shorter male recoiled slightly, but it was far too late for that. Sollux shoved him hard, knocking him back on his ass and hearing his head hit the wall. Karkat yelped, but Sollux ignored it, as well as the shout from John. First thing to go was his hearing, and then his sight, and finally his mind.   
Everything went black.


	13. Honey Bees

Sollux woke up in the hospital.

He didn't remember how he got there, or why _exactly_ he was there. He had no recollection of anything past when Karkat essentially crushed his heart into little pieces.  
He sat there in cold silence, trying to remember. He looked himself over, trying to find out why he was here, and he found a hint.  
Bruises and scratches were scattered along his arms, and he looked around anxiously for someone who could explain to him.

It was around five minutes later that Dave peered his head in, seeing if Sollux was awake. Upon realization that yes, he was, he slowly stepped through the curtain and headed over to Sollux's bedside.  
He looked... tired. It was kind of intimidating, seeing the usually-composed Dave looking so defeated.

"... What happened?" Sollux toyed with the thin, scratchy blanket covering his body, looking down. He couldn't meet Dave's black lenses.

"... You beat the shit out of Karkat." Dave paused as Sollux winced; tensed. "He's in another room. Busted lip, black eye, several bruises, and a slight concussion."

Sollux whimpered pathetically. No, no, no, he didn't do that to Karkat... please, no...

"He wants to move out and get a new place."

That was the end of the line for Sollux. He started sobbing like a infant, clutching to Dave's shirt as the man pulled him into a hug. Dave wasn't caring much for coolkid aloofness, because Sollux was crying hard and holding him tightly and there was no getting out of that grip.

"I know... I know, Sollux, fuck.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know, it sucks.. Stop crying.." Dave winced as Sollux tried to choke back a sob, and instead giving himself the hiccups.

"I-I-I s-still luh-love him," Sollux cried out, crocodile tears dribbling down his cheeks. "I-It's n-not fuh- _hic_ \- faiirr."   
Dave sighed, just holding Sollux because jesus, what else could he do?  
This was way more than he bargained for when hiring Sollux. _He just wanted to make music holy shit_.

Around fifteen minutes later Sollux finally stopped crying, reduced to violent trembles and pathetic sniffles. He stared down at his hands, his bruised knuckles, seeing his fingers twitch and shake from his hysterics. Dave sat with him, silently, until a nurse came and told Sollux that he was fine and he could go. Karkat didn't want to press charges, he basically just wanted to wash his hands of Sollux entirely. 

Sollux wasn't sure if it hurt more or less.

They checked out, and Dave drove Sollux to his apartment in stony silence, announcing that he was going to be staying with him for a little while per Karkat's request. Karkat would be- surprise, surprise- staying with John at his apartment. It was like a temporary roommate swap.

Sollux cried for two more hours when he got home, threw up, and fell asleep clutching the stuffed bee Karkat won him at the carnival when they were twelve.

 

Dave was gone when he woke up. The entire house was intimidatingly silent, the only noise being the slight ringing in Sollux's ears and the slow, monotonous /tick, tock/ of the clock on the wall in the hallway. Sollux found a few hot pink sticky notes on the TV when he headed into the living room.

_"hey sollux i went to sort some things out at the studio ive got a temp tech guy and im showing him the ropes  
weve only"_

Sollux looked at the next note.

_"got a little more work to do on the album before it goes into production and we can all just sit back and chill  
and dont worry im"_

Next.

_"not firing you or anything youve just got some stuff to work out and i dont want you to have to worry about work ok so just relax today and"_

Next.

_"i took everything in the medicine cabinet with me by vantas' request and i think were gonna have to talk about that later"_

Next (Christ, how many are there?).

_"but yeah just chill out and try not to be too upset ok  
-dave"_

Sollux ripped all the notes off and dropped them on the table, flopping himself face-first on the couch. He felt numb. His face was swollen from crying, he had a terrible taste in his mouth, and his head hurt worse than it had in a long time. He felt nauseas, but didn't give enough of a fuck to go to the bathroom. He pulled out his phone instead. He needed to talk to someone.. something..

_"aa i need you two come over please"_

_"whats wrong"_

_"i just need you two come over"_

_"why arent you using your silly typing quirk"_

Sollux didn't get a chance to reply, bitchslapped with a hefty wave of nausea. He finally hauled his ass to the bathroom and threw up, texting back Aradia when he was done.

_"do you still have that medicine i left at your house"_

_"yes i do"_

_"please bring it and come over now"_

_"ok sollux ill be there soon"_

Sollux slumped against the toilet, feeling the cool porcelain against his flushed cheek and focusing on that. He must have dozed off at some point, because it seemed like only seconds later that Aradia was shaking his shoulder, coaxing him into consciousness with a soothing tone.

"Sollux... Wake up, Sollux. I brought your medicine." She smoothed some of the sweaty hair from his face, and he made grabby hands for the pill bottle.  
She shook out _one_ pill, handing it to him and watching him dry swallow it. "What happened, Sollux?"

The techie sat back against the wall, legs drawn up to his chest. Aradia seemed to become more anxious at the bruises and scrapes on his arms.  
"... I lotht my cool," Sollux said quietly, fingers twitching. "Karkat thaid thomething and I.. I don't even remember what happened, I blacked out, but.. Apparently I beat the shit out of Karkat and now he doethn't want to talk to me again.. ever."

Aradia softly stroked his messy hair, looking sympathetic and concerned, kneeling on the floor. Sollux loved her more than anything at that moment. She was always looking out for him and pacifying him. Maybe if she had been there, she would have been able to stop him from freaking out.

"I'm so sorry, Sollux," she said quietly, sure his head must be in pain. "Come on, move over to the couch. It's not very comfortable on the floor, I'm sure."  
She slowly started to help him up, guiding him to the couch and laying him down. She pulled a blanket over his body and forced him to drink some water, stroking his hair soothingly. At some point, Sollux drifted off, his sleep deep and dreamless.

 

Sollux regained consciousness at some point later in the afternoon. He could hear voices in the kitchen, one he instantly recognized and one that it took him a second to decipher. Aradia and Dave.

"... and I gave him one of the anti-nausea pills, and he fell asleep. He woke up a few times, but he wasn't all there, so I just made him sip some water and go back to sleep."

"Okay, cool.. Seriously, thanks for your help. You're welcome here any time. Would you happen to have a phone number? You know, for, uh... Captor emergencies."

Aradia giggled. "Yes, I have a phone plan with my boyfriend Equius. Let me write you out the number."

"Suddenly my interest has dropped by thirty-six percent."

Aradia laughed at that. "You and Sollux will get along great. Here's my number, call if you need me. And, next time, don't take all of his pills. Just don't leave him too many to be dangerous."

"Gotcha. Thanks again, Aradia." 

"No problem. Tell Sollux I hope he feels better when he wakes up."

Sollux tuned out after that, but it was only a moment or so of formalities. He kept his eyes closed until Dave was shaking him gently, standing next to the couch.  
Sollux scooted over at the impatient nudging, making room for Dave's ass on the couch next to him. It was silent for a while, Dave (presumably) staring at him behind the shades and Sollux rolling onto his back to stare in return.

Dave was the one to break the silence. "I wanna know about you and pills. What the deal is."  
Sollux winced at that, but of course, he knew it was coming. It didn't make explaining any easier, though. Not by a long shot.

"... It wath when I wath nineteen," he mumbled, wringing his hands absently. "I didn't have a job, and I wath living in thome shitty hotel. KK-- _Karkat_ offered to let me thtay with him, but I wath young and thtupid and thtubborn and I wanted to be living on my own."  
He swallowed thickly.

"Me and Karkat were real clothe then too. Like, the fuckbuddieth kind of clothe. Ekthept we hadn't gotten to the fucking point together yet. Tho, we ended up getting in thith big fight over whatever the fuck, I don't even remember. He told me he hated me, and that kind of... really hit home. I remember thitting in my hotel room, having thith thtupid bipolar breakdown. The rational part of my mind told me he didn't mean it and he wath jutht pithhed, but the pthychotic thide told me I wath a pithh-poor ekthcuthe for a friend and I should commit thuithide for putting Karkat through all of my shit.

"Tho.. I apparently dethided that wath a good idea. I took my bottle of migraine medication, dumped it out in my hand and took every latht one. I remember Karkat calling me to apologize and me thpeaking garbled bitth and pietheth of phratheth, freaking him out. He came over to thee if I wath okay, and when he got there I wath unconsciouth. He took me to the hothpital and I got my thtomach pumped, and wath put on life thupport for a long time. They didn't know if I wath gonna live."

Dave sat and listened in stony silence, as Sollux continued.   
"Karkat came to thee me every day, and when I finally woke up, he wath right there holding my hand and looking like the motht pitiful little thing." A sigh.  
"After that, I moved in with him. He kind of forced me, not wanting me to do anything like that again. I promithed-" sniff, "- I promithed I never would. I've been in t-the thituation where I have a whole bottle in my handth and I w-want to, tho bad, but I promithed t-to KK and..." Sollux trailed off brokenly, wiping his eyes. Dave took the techie's hand, giving it a comforting little squeeze.

"I know, it sucks, dude. I'm really fucking sorry. About all of that shit, too. And even if you and Karkat aren't tight anymore, I need you to keep that promise you made to him, alright? I still need you. You can't leave me with those crazy fuckers at the studio, man, that's just criminal."

Sollux cracked a tiny little half-smile, wiping his eyes. It was forced, but the sentiment was there. He took a deep, shaky breath, and then exhaled.  
"Okay."

Dave and Sollux sat in silence, relaxing in each other's presence for a while. At some point, Sollux started dozing off again, so Dave scooped him up- he was surprisingly light- and carried him into his room. He laid him down in bed and drew the covers up over him, pursing his lips as Sollux made a little weak groan and rolled over.   
Dave headed into Karkat's room, laying down and flopping his arm over his eyes. His shades were shoved askew in the process, and he took them off to set on Karkat's messy side table. 

\---  
Sollux woke up sometime early in the morning, blinking sleep from his eyes. They were so swollen from crying, he could barely see. He headed into the bathroom and splashed water over his face, staring in the mirror and charting his condition. He looked admittedly awful. Broken down, alone, almost surreal. He felt about as bad as he looked.

The steam of the hot shower helped him a little bit, but it was a small victory. Dave was already gone again- probably _working_ , like Sollux should be. He's such a fucking failure. No wonder Karkat hates him.  
At the name in his head, he choked up, having to think about something he likes to keep from crying again. Bees. He began reciting bee facts.

_The Nassanoff gland in worker bees is best seen when a swarm is hived. When the bees enter a new domicile, some bees stay near the entrance and fan. They turn their abdominal tip downward to expose a small, wet, white material on top of the end of the abdomen. In minutes, all the other bees will enter the new hive. They mark food sources with this material as well._

Bees. Sollux loved bees. He knew practically everything there was to know about bees.   
Thinking about bees, actually, made him want more. He headed over to the TV and popped in one of his documentaries, and, when Dave got home, refused to explain to him why he was watching 'The Mating Life of Honey Bees' while sobbing and eating honey-covered popcorn.

He just wouldn't understand.


	14. Applebeeth

Sollux spent the next two weeks in what could only be described as a lethargic state. Having Dave around helped in the long run, considering the Strider made sure he ate, bathed, and slept, but besides that... He kinda did nothing but play games for hours on end. 

"Okay can I get Might pleathe?  
...  
Thankth.  
Okay, here'th how we're gonna do thith. Baralin, you hold the aggro on the mobth and Limn, you maintank. Andreit you can offtank. I don't want to thee anyone thtanding in the black shit thith time, got it? When he doeth hith AoE, get behind the pillarth-"

He was interrupted by the headset being torn off his head, and he made a sound of protest. 

"Captor, that's enough. I'm sick and tired of hearing you screaming at other nerds over Vent. We're gonna get out and do something." Sollux made a furious sound at that, reaching for his headset and snatching it back. "Fuck off, I'll go out after thith fight!"

Dave rolled his eyes behind his shades, arms crossed over his chest. "Yeah fucking right, you say that every damn time, and then you're still sitting there eight hours later. Come on." 

"I can't jutht leave, I'm the raid leader!"

"Sucks."

"Let me jutht do thith one fight. I'll get off afterwardth, even if we wipe."  
Dave scrunched his nose slightly, and then offered a grumbled, "Fine." He handed the headset back and then headed out of Sollux's room to grab a bottle of apple juice, leaving Sollux alone to his stupid nerdy nerd shit.

\---

Living with John Egbert was weird.

It's not like the guy was any different than when Karkat was just hanging out, except that he was there all the time. In the morning when he woke up, at night when he went to sleep, at work, while he showered, ate, breathed, everything.  
Well, okay, maybe not THAT often, but the point stands. 

A while back, Karkat and John had a nice long chat about FEELINGS. Namely, the ones that Karkat harbored for John. 

 

-

"You.. what? Speak up a little Karkat, I seriously can't hear you." John's head tilted, blue eyes boring into Karkat like they knew everything and nothing at the same time. He felt himself swallow thickly, cheeks a blazing carmine and eyes cast downwards. 

"Fuck, clean out your ears asshole. I said I like you."  
John's eyes widened a little, silence permeating the calm in the room. There was a long stretch of this unbalanced quiet, before John spoke up.  
"So, that's why you.. you know, yesterday..?"

".. Yeah. And then you pulled a nice little no-homo on me," he snipped dryly, and John gave a sheepish laugh.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just... I've never really considered myself.. uh... as someone who likes boys. I still don't!"  
Karkat cringed, and John amended quickly, "But, ah, that came out wrong! I don't like.. boys, but.. I like you? Agh, I'm not making any sense. I guess I'm just a Karkatsexual or something?" He gave another stupidly endearing giggle. 

Karkat was even redder than before, but he was fighting a smile like nobody's business. "You're not fucking with me, right? This is legit? Because if you are, I swear to god-"  
John leaned over, pecking Karkat's cheek and giving him a crazy bright smile. "Yep." 

-

But that was a while ago, and lately John had been getting closer and closer. For someone who previously claimed no-homo, he seemed to be going out of his way to be close to Karkat, to the point of sleeping in the same bed because 'he had a nightmare'. And Karkat would be kind of stupid not to pick up on those hints.

 

"Hey, John. Turn off that stupid shit and come on." Karkat stood in front of the TV with a resolute glare, russet eyes transfixed on the boy curled up on the couch. He had gotten distracted watching some stupid HBO special, and he was wiping at his eyes.  
"Move, Karkat, he was just about to propose!" The raven-haired boy picked up a couch pillow and chucked it at Karkat, who easily dodged the fluffy assault. "Hell no, you said we could go out to dinner and I'm fucking hungry." 

"But K-"

"No."

"Can I jus-"

"No."

"Five m-"

"No."

"Gah!" John huffed irritably as he stood up, turning the TV off per Karkat's request. "There, happy now? I'll never know if they get together and it's all your stupid fault. You're a butt." Karkat snorted at that, tossing John his jacket to put on.

"If I'm a butt, then you're a perineum."

"A what?" Karkat rolled his eyes.

"Nevermind. Just go run a comb through your hair, you look like you just played hopscotch in a wind tunnel." John scoffed at the mere idea, but he went and found a comb nonetheless.  
"That's not even possible. Your argument is invalid." Karkat responded by flipping him off, and John cackled as the ornery male headed out to his car. John trailed after Karkat, body-checking him on the way and calling dibs on driver.

"You ass!"

"Hahahaha! Too slow, dickbutt!" John hopped into the driver's side, and Karkat begrudgingly went over and sat on the passenger side. "I hate you, y'know. It's like this burning passion deep within my soul, felt when I first laid eyes on you. This shit is pure and true, the deepest black running through my veins like unfiltered smoke. This hatred is so intense it might almost reach around back to love."  
John giggled like an idiot at that, but then he was leaning over and oh god his hand was on Karkat's cheek what was he doing-  
The blue-eyed boy tilted Karkat's head closer and gave him a soft little kiss on the lips. "Hehehe. I love you too Karkat."

Karkat was stunned still, cheeks a blazing cherry red and eyes the size of dinner plates. John casually turned back forwards and started up the car, driving off towards their destination. "Applebees sound good?"

There was a thick swallow, and then Karkat nodded, dumbfounded and tingly and warm. "...Yeah. Yeah, sounds... good." 

\---

"Sollux, I swear to god-" Dave was about to bang his fist on the door, but it opened just before he could do so. Sollux looked.. okay, really. Except not. He was dressed, and he looked freshly showered, but his eyes were dull and listless behind his glasses. "Can we jutht get thith over with?"  
Dave pursed his lips, not offering a response otherwise as he headed down the hall. "We're going to Applebees."

"I hate Applebeeth."

"That's only because one time you accidentally crushed your foot and screamed in the waiter's face."

"... How do you know that?"

"You told me that one time we were drunk," Dave shrugged, grabbing his keys and heading out to the car. Sollux climbed in next to him, crossing his arms and huffing like a teenage girl.  
"Jutht for the record, I hate you."

"Tell me about it."

"You're thtupid and fat and thmelly."

"Mhm."

"And you have bad hair. And you like dumb muthic. And your thwordth are lame."

"Go on."

"And you're thmelly."

"Already got that one. Try again."

"Fuck you."

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet- quiet when it came to talking, that is. Dave was blasting his music and the entire car vibrated on it's suspension. Sollux's nose scrunched in distaste, but he focused on anything but the music pounding his eardrums and vibrating his ribcage until they got to the restaurant.  
"Sollux? Get out of the car."

"No."

"Sollux."

"Dave."

"Captor."

"Thtrider."

"Who's Thtrider? Don't know him."

"You fucking athhhole-"

After a bit of unnecessary, half-assed fighting, Sollux grumbled and headed after Dave inside the building.

\---

"Hey Karkat?" John peered over his menu, and he was clearly smiling if the crinkles by his eyes had anything to do with anything as Karkat met his gaze.  
"Yeah?" John giggled, almost sheepishly, and Karkat held a groan back.  
"Get on with it Egbert."

"Is this a date?" Karkat paused, a bit wary of the question. Was this some sort of trap? He wouldn't put it past John to play a prank on him, 

"... I don't know, is it?" John seemed to contemplate for about half a second, and then, "Yeah!"  
Karkat grunted in response, pulling his menu up to hide the flush to his cheeks. "You're an idiot."

"Awww, you're so sweet."

"So is my fist, wanna taste?" 

"Sure!" Oh god what is he-

Karkat stared in wide-eyed horror as John took his hand, brought it to his mouth, and licked his index finger from bottom to top. He felt dizzy from all the blood rushing to his face, and he jerked his hand back, wiping it on his pants. "F-fucking gross, slobber on somebody else," he stammered, burying himself in his menu once more. John silently added a few tallies to his Prankster's Gambit and his Fabio's Charm (yes he just made that up). 

\---

Sitting in the booth, staring blankly at his menu, Sollux felt /wrong/. It was like a disturbance in the force, if you will, and it was driving him nuts.  
"Dave?"

Dave looked up from his menu- presumably, that is, as he lowered it a tiny bit. "What?"  
Sollux paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "I thenthe... thomething."

Dave made a noncommittal grunt, pulling his menu back up. Of course he wouldn't understand. Nobody understands. He can feel this fucking disturbance. Something was off kilter and he was gonna figure it out.  
He looked around (not-so-) sneakily, eyes narrowed. Dave had set down his menu, sipping his Coke and drumming his fingers on the table.  
"Dave, I'm theriouth, thomething ith-"  
Sollux cut off, his eyes locked on a guy three booths down, on the opposite side, who had just lowered his menu.  
"Oh god."

"What?" Dave cocked an eyebrow, and Sollux quickly shut his mouth.  
"Nothing."

Dave hesitated- "Are you sure?" Sollux looked away, nibbling his lower lip. He didn't reply, and then suddenly Karkat was looking up and they were meeting eyes and oh shit!  
Sollux felt a prickly wave of panic, and he quickly looked at Dave, grabbing his collar and pulling him in, meeting him halfway over the table and crushing their lips together.

"Mmmmff-?!" Dave's eyes widened, shades knocked askew as Sollux devoured his mouth, lips and teeth and tongue. Half the restaurant was staring at this point, and he jerked back, lips wet and kiss-bruised.  
"Captor, what the fuck-"  
Sollux stood up, stammering something wholly unintelligible before speedwalking out of the restaurant.

\---

"Was that-"

"Yes."

"Did he-"

"Yes."

"... I think I should talk to Dave."

"Yeah." 

\---

Dave apologized to the waitress and left a tip despite not having even ordered yet, and then quickly followed Sollux outside. He found the techie sitting down on the ground, his back to the brick building and his face in his hands. Dave sat down next to him, brow furrowed slightly and confusion flooding him. "What was that?"

Sollux was quiet for a few minutes, spare a shaky sigh or two, and then weakly offered, "He was in there."

"He? Who is-" Dave broke off, mouth falling open. "What, you mean...? What the hell is he doing here?" 

"Having dinner with John," Sollux spat venomously, taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes. Dave frowned, but didn't reply, only stood up and extended his hand to Sollux. He accepted the aid and stood up, sniffling softly and wiping his eyes again.  
"Come on, let's go home," Dave murmured, heading over to his car. Sollux trailed after him dejectedly, his eyes fixed on the ground. Dave started up the car, but before he got anywhere, a voice called, "Waaaaiiiitt!!"

John jogged over to Dave's car, and his friend turned the music off, lowering his window. "Now's not a good time, John-"  
Sollux was glaring daggers from the passenger seat. John pursed his lips awkwardly, focusing on Dave.  
"I know, but- Agh, just text me when you get home, okay?"  
Dave nodded compliantly, and John stepped off, allowing Dave to roll up his window and drive home with Sollux crying softly in the passenger seat.

\---

"Sollux, come on. It was not that big of a deal. They were probably just having a friendly friend outing between totally friendzoned friends, if I know John at all."  
Sollux snorted in blatant disbelief, curled up on the couch in his favorite blanket. He had messily sewn a patch over him and Karkat's entwined zodiac signs so he didn't have to look at it anymore. "Yeah right. They were probably jutht famished from all of the rigorouth buttfucking and needed thuthtenanthe."  
Dave snickered, and Sollux shot him a death glare. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but... you just can not for the life of you say sustenance can you?" Sollux chucked a couch pillow at Dave, who caught it and dropped it down next to him. He was idly picking at a scab on his arm, lounging on the couch next to the distressed techie. 

"Thtop picking your arm, you're grothh." Dave barked a laugh at that, his arm dropping back down into his lap.  
"I'm gross? You eat honey covered popcorn, dude."

"That'th becauthe it'th deliciouth," Sollux retorted, curling into himself slightly. He heard his phone vibrate on the table, but he ignored it in favor of sulking and playing his Gameboy Color.  
Dave stood up, stretching towards the ceiling and then heading over to the kitchen.

"So, the album is going through production now," he commented offhandedly, to which Sollux lowered his game.  
"Really? Tho the guy you got to help out wath good?"

Dave nodded, getting out a pot and filling it with water. If the two boxes of Macaroni and Cheese on the counter said anything, he was going to make a pseudo-dinner for the both of them. "Yeah, he was good. Kind of a boring guy though. 's a lot more fun with my bipolar tech stooge," he teased, to which Sollux made a sound of discontent.

"Admit it, you jutht mithh thtaring at my athh all day."

"Your ass is in a chair, how can I stare at it?"

"Whenever I get up, your eyeth are thcoping out my choithe athh tho hard I can feel my athhcheekth burning. I have markth."

"I don't believe you. You're gonna have to drop your pants and prove it." Eyebrow waggle.  
Sollux cackled, starting to feel a bit better. "Thee? Told you. You love my athh." 

Dave was leaning against the counter, waiting for the pot to boil casually. "Maybe I've just got a thing for bony lumps," he mused.

"Damn right you have a thing for bony lumpth," Sollux replied in turn, a devious smirk on his face. Dave paused.  
"Ohh, okay, I see what you're doing there. Yes, I totally have a thing for giant impudent mandicock."

"... Mandicock."

"It's a mixture of man, dick, and c-"

"No, no, I get it."

"I came up with it myself."

"I don't doubt that for a thecond, Thtrider."

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful- they watched shitty movies, snarked back and forth, and had a Macaroni and Cheese-flinging fight. Sollux even found himself in a surprisingly decent mood that night, as he crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep.


	15. Plesiosaurus

Everything was hot, so hot, choking him out with the most incredible sensations. His skin was on fire, blood boiling in his veins just beneath the surface as a groan rose up out of his throat. It was one of the good fucks, the fucks where he was on top, and the figure beneath him was moaning and writhing and begging.  
Except this figure wasn't doing any of that now. The figure was near silent, spare a few shuddery breaths and muffled grunts, fingers pressing into Sollux's shoulders and gripping tight, his knees locked against the techie's hips, rocking forward to meet him and hissing with pleasure. 

"Nnh.. mm.. come on.." Lips crushed into Sollux's, warm and moist, making him shudder, move faster, thrusting in over and over, harder and harder, come on come on _come on_ \--

"Oh god, yeth, Dave--!"

Sollux jolted awake, his eyes wide and skin flushed. He felt warm and sticky from sweat, and the fan blades rotating lazy ahead did little to calm him.  
He didn't even need to check- he knew he was hard. Impossibly so. This drew a soft, quaky sigh from him, shooting a glance at the digital clock on his desk. 3:36AM. 

He stood up, slowly padding out to the kitchen and getting a big glass of water. He choked it down, his throat parched, and looked around the room quietly. Everything was so silent and serene at this time of night- the entire house was dark, the only light coming from windows and the little lights on electronics, most red to signify 'off'.  
The clock on the stove read 3:38AM, and the clock on the microwave read 12:37AM, because him and Karkat had never gotten around to changing it after a blackout six months earlier. 

He stared woefully down at the tent in his boxers, and then sucked down the rest of his water, taking a deep breath. It was just a dream. He shouldn't be thinking about fucking Dave when he was being so nice, staying with Sollux and giving him time off of work and... Yeah.

But something about the dream, thinking back on it, just made him.. antsy. He _liked_ it. He liked it a _lot_. More so than that, he loved it. He was harder than he'd been in ages- since the last time him and Karkat had sex, perhaps. 

Sollux tiptoed back to his room, snagging his phone and sitting in bed. He opened up Facebook, went to Dave's page, and flicked through his pictures... God, he was so unfairly attractive. And the freckles dotting the bridge of his nose and the tops of his cheeks were even better.  
Sollux's hand slipped down into his pants, unable to help himself. He flipped through pictures of Dave and stroked himself, slow, and then quicker, whimpering and shivering to himself. He already felt the burn of desire in the pit of his gut, and he didn't last long, spilling out over his hand with a sputtery utterance of Dave's name.

His world slowly began piecing itself back together, breathing heavy as he snagged a tissue from the box on his side table and wiped his hand. He tossed the tissue to the ground, really not caring enough to properly dispose of it, and curled up to sleep feeling vaguely ashamed.

\---

"Sometimes... I don't know, sometimes I miss him. I really do."

"Bro," came the raspy voice on the end of the line, "I know you up 'n need your jams sometimes, but 's almost four in th' morning..." A yawn.

Karkat was curled up on the couch, having a little episode and wringing his hands. "I know, fuck, believe me I know, and I'm sorry, but... what if I just, maybe, texted him once. Just to ask how he's doing, or something-"

"Kar, chiiill," was the sleepy reply. "You wan' me to come over or somethin'?" 

Fucking Gamzee. He could be a complete idiot, and the most incompetent juggalo douche to ever walk Earth, but nobody could say he wasn't a devoted friend. And just knowing he had that made Karkat feel a bit better.  
"No... that's okay. Jesus, I'm probably such a goddamn annoyance. Thanks for just.. talking with me, Gamzee. You're really a good friend, and all," he muttered awkwardly.

"Hahaha, no prob, Kar. 'm gonna kick the shit out of some Z's, but you be callin' me back if you need me to come over, a'ight?"

"Yeah, promise. Night dickwag."

"Night best friend." Click.

Karkat sighed softly, lowering his phone and staring at it. Should he? God, he really wanted to. Just maybe see if he was okay.  
Maybe...

\---

Sollux was seconds from slipping away when he was abruptly woken by his phone vibrating, the screen lighting up with a notification. He was a bit taken aback to see what he saw on the screen as he rolled over and checked it.

"1 NEW MESSAGE  
KK" 

Man, he'd never gotten around to changing that name in his phone, either. Or just taking it out entirely. 

"HEY, UH... IT'S ME.  
I KNOW WE AREN'T TALKING AND ALL, BUT... I JUST WANTED TO SEE IF YOU WERE OK.  
WAIT, WHAT AM I THINKING, IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING. YOU'RE NOT GONNA READ THIS UNTIL TOMORROW. SHIT.  
FUCK... OK, I'M GONNA SEND IT ANYWAYS.  
BECAUSE I STILL WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU ARE AND I KNOW I'LL CHICKEN OUT ON MYSELF TOMORROW."

Another vibration.

"THAT WAS STUPID. THAT WHOLE THING WAS STUPID. PLEASE IGNORE IT."

Sollux read and reread the message several times, silent, before finally he started to tap out a reply.

"ii'm awake."

"OH. WHY? YOU'RE SLEEPING WELL AND EVERYTHING RIGHT?"

"the fuck do you care?"

"I JUST... DO."

"yeah ok. probly ju2t takiing a break from fuckiing egbutt and thought you'd me22age me for a good laugh."

"ME AND JOHN HAVEN'T DONE ANY FUCKING, SOLLUX, DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE."

"ii can be w/e ii want."

"LOOK, WE HAVE A LOT OF MUTUAL FRIENDS, SO I DON'T WANT US TO HATE EACH OTHER. I MEAN, WE'VE BOTH MOVED ON ANYWAYS. I HAVE JOHN, AND YOU HAVE DAVE."

"whoa what. no. me and dave aren't a thiing. ii only kii22ed hiim becau2e ii paniicked." 

"OH."

"yeah, OH."

"WELL. WHY DON'T YOU WANT TO BE WITH HIM?"

"who 2aiid ii don't? ii would be on that iin a heartbeat, but ii don't thiink iit would be 2mart riight now."

"WHY?"

"becau2e he'd feel liike a replacement for 2omeone el2e and that'2 not cool." 

"WHAT? WHO?"

"oh my god you're 2o dumb."

"WHAT?

WAIT

OH." 

"god." 

"SORRY, GEEZ."

"w/e. but iif iit wa2n't for that, ii would de2troy that boy. liike, make hiim 2CREAM."

"..."

"ii'd do everythiing two hiim. ii would briing hii2 a22 two tear2."

"LOOK, STOP TRYING TO DO YOUR WEIRD JEALOUSY THING. I'M NOT JEALOUS THAT YOU'RE ATTRACTED TO DAVE DUDE, IT'S JUST KIND OF TMI."

"ii ju2t don't get what john ha2 that ii don't."

"THAT'S STUPID. YOU TWO ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE, IT'S NOT A MATTER OF WHAT HE HAS THAT YOU DON'T. IT'S JUST THAT HE IS THE ONE THAT I ENDED UP BEING ROMANTICALLY INTERESTED IN."

"oh bull2hiit! you were romantiically iintere2ted iin me!"

"AND YOU SURE PROVED HOW MUCH I MEANT TO YOU WHEN YOU HAD SEX WITH THAT RICH DOUCHE."

"what? ED? ii diidn't have 2ex wiith hiim! ii mean, ii 2TARTED to, but ii 2topped becau2e ii realiized ii loved YOU, not hiim."

"... IF YOU LOVED ME, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY IT WHEN YOU CAME HOME?"

"becau2e you were wiith JOHN, and ii realiized iit miight have been a liittle two late." 

"..."

"ii'm goiing back two bed. plea2e, ju2t... iif you're goiing two 2top talkiing two me, 2top entiirely. ii can't do thii2." 

Sollux shut his phone off so he didn't feel tempted to read any reply Karkat might send, hooked it up to the charger, and then curled up to sleep feeling empty.

\---

Sollux deigned a smile, watching a honey bee lazily drift from side to side, wings singing with a light buzz as it circled a purple and white wildflower. He felt genuinely good, for once in a long time. There were a few stray clouds in the sky, wispy and snow white, and he felt springy grass beneath his hands. 

Him and Aradia had gone on a picnic, the latter having dragged the former out of his room and taken him out. They'd taken a long walk through the park, sat down in the grass and just relaxed. They talked about everything imaginable, Sollux actually ate lunch, and he felt... content. God, Aradia always made him feel good.  
Good ex.  
Best friend. 

"See that one? That looks like Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus."

"I'm sure it doeth, AA."

"It does! See, those are the dorsal paddles, and that's the tail-"

"Yeth, AA, I totally thee it."

Aradia giggled, taking Sollux's hand and squeezing it. "We need to do this more often."

Sollux offered her a smile, "Yeah, we do. But you're alwayth either with Equiuth or buthy."

Aradia sighed, "I know, I know.. but I'll try and be a little more available so we can hang out more, yes?"

Sollux squeezed Aradia's hand, "Thoundth good."

Aradia pulled Sollux over into a hug, "You know I love you, Sollux," she murmured gently. Sollux returned the hug, still smiling. 

"Love you too, AA."


	16. Oh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry to say it guys but i think i might wrap this up soon
> 
> im just losing interest in it and you can probably tell by how my writing is getting worse as time goes on that im just not interested
> 
> but ill try and make it to like 18-19 chapters and then close it out but man
> 
> ready to be done with it
> 
> wanna start somethin new

There was one thing Dave often did that Sollux never got with Karkat (besides shutting the fuck up most of the time, which was a nice change). He brought people home. He brought a fair amount of people home, actually. Some girls, some guys. Mostly girls. 

Sollux usually let himself fade into the background at those times. The rocking and moaning across the hall was blocked out with loud music and earbuds shoved in his ears, and it usually worked well enough, except when one was a screamer. 

Tonight, it was a guy. He sounded familiar, but Sollux couldn't pinpoint it. The voice was softer than most, a little shrill, and he sounded almost hesitant. Sollux found himself listening in, intrigued, trying hard to figure out why that voice sounded so familiar.

"Nh, mn, Dave, I- oh God. Ah-" 

Sollux squinted, huffed, trying to fucking figure it out-

"D-Dave!"

...  
Oh.  
OH. 

Oh fuck.

\--- 

The next morning, Sollux was sitting in the kitchen, nibbling a piece of toast drowned in honey. Dave came down the hall, his pale hair disheveled and sleepy, shirt riding up a little on his hip. He sat at the table and clasped his hands together, looking uncertain, and then head-desked. 

Sollux was almost amused, but he had too much pity coursing through him. Poor Dave. People made mistakes, and this one was pretty awful.   
"Tho.. regretting latht night?"

Nod.

"He thtill in there?"

Nod.

"Gonna have to tell him it wath a one time thing?"

...  
Nod.

Sollux licked his sticky lips, nose scrunching. "Gamzee ith gonna kill you, y'know. Like. Wreck you."   
Dave made a displeased sound, taking his face out of his hands and almost whining.

"I know, okay? Believe me, I feel bad enough." Pause. "Not about Gamzee, fuck that guy. But.." He gestured to his room, "He doesn't deserve this."  
Dave was quiet for a few moments, the only sound coming from Sollux's honey-sticky smacks and chews, eating the rest of his toast.

"Maybe I should just date the kid?"

Sollux stopped, glancing up and swallowing a half-chewed bite, feeling it going all the way down. Ow. "What?"  
Dave waved his hand, "I mean... He's cute, not bad to be around, and he's a good fuck."

Sollux stared quietly, uncertain, and then he spoke up, "I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"Why?"

"It jutht.. wouldn't," he insisted, sighing softly. 

"Then what am I supposed to do? Tell him 'hey, thanks for taking it up the ass last night but I was just drunk'?"

"I dunno, wath he drunk too?" 

"No, he had like, one ridiculously fruity drink in contrast to my like, half a bottle of Fireball."

"Ow."

"Tell me about it," Dave croaked, and then carded fingers through his hair. He was about to speak, and then was promptly cut off by another presence entering the kitchen.

"Hi, guys," Tavros smiled shyly, giving a little wave. He was blushing brilliantly, his mohawk disheveled, and he was wearing sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt of Dave's. Sollux noted that, yeah, he was basically so desu that it hurt. 

"Hey Tav," Dave managed a little wave, sitting up a bit more. Tavros headed over, and sat down at the table, scooting a little closer to Dave. 

"Hey Tavroth. Have a good night?" Sollux cocked an eyebrow deviously, and his lips raised as well as Tavros' blush intensified.

"Uh," he stammered, giving Dave a slightly panicked look before offering, "yes?" 

"That'th good," came the croon of response, and Dave shot Sollux a look. 

"Captor, mind if me and Tav have a second alone?"   
Sollux stuck his tongue out, scooting his chair back and evacuating the room. He managed to watch TV for a total of thirty seconds before he was completely tuning it out, listening to the conversation in the kitchen. He couldn't hear all of it, unfortunately, but he was picking up on enough that he could piece it together.

"... wasn't really..... a few too many...."

"... thought, maybe....... didn't know......"

"... don't want to hurt....... can be friends.... fuck, don't cry..."

"......" Sniffle. 

Sollux frowned slightly, and tuned out after that, feeling kind of bad. Poor Tavros. He's too sweet for his own good sometimes.   
He focused on the TV again, lounging on the couch lazily and watching the flickering screen dutifully. After a few moments, Tavros headed past towards Dave's room, wiping his eyes messily. Sollux's frown returned, and he watched the hallway for a few minutes until Tavros came back, dressed, and gave him a shaky apology and a goodbye before leaving the house. 

Sollux stood up, stretching long, lanky limbs and making a groan, before heading into the kitchen. Dave was making toaster waffles like nothing had happened, totally straight-faced. Despite Sollux's own secret agenda of attraction, he had to tear into Dave about this.

"Remember back when I firtht thtarted working?"

"Shut up, Sollux." 

"And I thaid you'd be a big douche if you were preying on that kid?"

"Shut up, Sollux." 

"You kinda proved me right-"

"Shut the fuck up," Dave growled, cheeks tinting a little in anger. "I don't need your judgement right now, alright? I know. I'm a piece of shit for hurting him, I'm a dick knight or something equally degrading, blah blah. Also, Dick Knight is a good band name, I'm copyrighting it." 

Sollux couldn't help a chuckle, which he quickly curbed to glare, "Thtop that."

"Stop what?"

"Making me laugh. I'm mad at you."

"Dick Knight?"

"Ehehe- Damnit, Thtrider!" 

Dave smirked slightly with his anger fading, and then headed over to the toaster, taking out his waffles and starting to butter them.   
"Has Karkat tried talking to you lately?"

Sollux bristled almost instantly, nose scrunching. "Yeah."   
Dave turned, glancing at him, "What'd he say?"

Sollux sighed dramatically, plopping down at the table and waving his hand. "He wath athking how I wath doing and if I wath thleeping well and shit like that. Thaid he didn't want uth to be enemieth becauthe we have tho many mutual friendth."

Dave was quiet for a moment, drowning his waffles in syrup. "Maybe you should consider it. I mean, it's been long enough, hasn't it? He's moved on, so.. maybe you should try it too. And you guys could be friends again."

Sollux looked over at Dave, biting his lower lip hard. "I don't know how to meet people. I'm terrible at it. I mean," he shrugged, "I can meet people at a club or a bar, but when it cometh to meeting people I actually care about.. I dunno. I feel like I've ekthauthted all my rethourtheth." 

Dave's nose scrunched slightly, and he dug into his waffles and leaned against the counter, "That's bullshit. There are tons of people," he spoke around a mouthful, "there's no way you've met everyone that you'll ever care about already."   
Sollux's sigh was exasperated, and he opened his mouth to speak only to get cut off, "Stop making excuses. I know what you're doing," Dave swallowed, "you're trying to think of any reason not to meet new people and build more connections. How about I come with you? We can go out somewhere, and I'll help you meet people."

Sollux stared at Dave, thinking for a little bit, and then finally conceded, "Okay."

"Sweet," Dave replied lightly, and that was that.

Sollux felt vaguely unsettled.

\--- 

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave!" 

Sollux watched in dumbfounded silence as Dave was tackled, by what appeared to be a 130lb girl with raven hair down to her butt. Dave went reeling back, arms locking around the girl to keep her steady, and Sollux was pretty sure he saw a real smile on the stoic blonde's face. 

"Hey Jade," Dave chuckled, ignoring the bustle of the rest of the airport around him. He had asked Sollux to come with him to pick up a friend of his from the airport, and now Sollux was kind of regretting that he agreed.  
Truth be told, Sollux had been noticing some things lately. Some... feel-y things. The kind where, he was a little more pissed when Dave brought someone home, and a little more self-righteous when they were kicked out the next morning. But, he wasn't by any means going to start jumping to conclusions. In his mind, he was just getting really desperate to bed the blonde.

Sollux watched as they chatted, Dave giving Jade little smiles, and then flopped back onto a bench as they started hugging again.  
He focused on a loose thread on his shirt, staring at it closely, until a voice made him jump.

"Hi!"

He glanced up, seeing the dark-haired girl standing in front of him with a wide smile. She had slight buck teeth, wide green eyes fringed with long dark lashes, and deep tan skin. Her glasses were large and rounded, but somehow it just looked cute on her. It was infuriating.

"Hey," he nodded slightly, not smiling. She didn't seem very put-off by that, instead starting to ramble as Dave came up as well.

"So I heard you're Sollux, Dave's friend? I'm Jade it's really nice to meet you! Wow I like your glasses are those 3D? Do they work like 3D glasses or are they just for show? Oh man I'm asking so many questions sorry I've just been living in the Rockies for weeks shooting a nature documentary so I'm so excited to be around people again!" 

Sollux just stared up at her, trying to glare to show his distaste. Dave cut in, nudging her gently, "He's PMSing. C'mon, grab your stuff. I'll take you to John's so you can get all set up. He should be home from work by the time we get there."

"Okay!" Jade scampered off to get her luggage, and Dave looked down at Sollux.

"What's the matter?" 

Sollux looked up at him, looking blankfaced, just as Dave.

"Nothing."

"You don't seem to like her."

"She'th way too happy and bubbly. It'th annoying."

"That's bullshit, you love Feferi. They're a lot alike."

Sollux went quiet, gritting his teeth just a little. He stood up and decided to go to the car, not wanting to be around them for just a few moments.

\---

Being John's sister, Jade was set up to stay with him and Karkat. Sollux was glad she wasn't staying with them, secretly, except not so secretly because Dave was drilling him about it as soon as he got home.

"Why don't you like Jade? She's kick-ass," he drawled, picking a scab on his arm as Sollux's nose scrunched.

"Are you two dating?" It was a question that desperately needed an answer, and Sollux didn't care if it was a little out of the blue.  
Dave glanced over, the picking stopped and the eyebrow raised. 

"Me and Jade? Oh hell no," he shook his head. "I love her and everything, but she's hella intimidating. If I misstepped in a relationship with Jade, she'd kick my ass seven ways til' Sunday, and I don't need that kind of pressure. Besides," he waved his hand, "she's practically my sister at this point."

Sollux almost sighed in relief, but carefully bottled it up. "Oh," was all he gave in response to Dave's assurances. 

"Why?" Oh. That was a question Sollux did not like. No, not at all.

"No reathon," he responded coolly, focusing on playing Words with Friends. Aradia was kicking his ass. 135 to 84. 

"Yeah right. Look, Captor," Dave finished picking his arm, leaning against the left armrest of the couch, "I know you want me. Why do you keep tiptoeing around it? I'm right here. You just gotta ask."  
Sollux bristled at that, his dichromatic eyes slooooowly raising to meet Dave's shades.

"Ekthcuthe me?" Sollux lowered his phone, eyes narrowed. Dave stood his ground (sat his ground?).   
"Your ego ith inflating to tremendouth thize, Thtrider, how about you cool it down?"

Dave snorted, and he raised his eyebrows, "C'mon. You know it's true, I know it's true, even John knows it's true. Just-" He was cut off by his phone ringing, and Sollux breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello? ... Oh. Fuck. ... No, it's okay. Yeah. Chill, it'll be fine. I- Sh, relax, fuckin' hell." Sollux looked over with piqued curiosity as Dave continued, "When? ... Okay. I'll be fine, just calm down. I'll talk to you later. Okay. Bye." 

"Who wath that?"

"Tavros," Dave stood and stretched. "Said Gamzee is on his way here to try and kick my ass."  
Sollux blinked, standing up as well, "Gonna fight him?"

"Of course I am, what kind of question is that?" He pulled his shirt down, pushing his hair out of his face and heading out the door. Sollux followed after him, the both of them just hanging out on the stairs until Gamzee's old, clunky car plodded up, the juggalo getting out and slamming the door. 

Dave stood, a hint of a smirk on his lips, and stepped off the stairs and into the buttery yellow light by the apartment.   
Gamzee looked pissed the fuck off, and Sollux watched hesitantly as he marched up to Dave.

"You motherfucking motherfucker," was all he spat, teeth gritting almost audibly.

"Nitramfucking, actually," Dave corrected, stonefaced. 

Gamzee growled at that, wasting no time in swinging at Dave, who dodged easily and twisted the other male's arm. Gamzee retaliated with an elbow to Dave's ribs, jerking away when the grip loosened and landing a solid punch on his jaw. 

Dave reeled back, blood welling up from his bitten tongue, and then moved with somewhat surprising quickness around Gamzee to get him in a chokehold. Gamzee squirmed, trying to release himself, at which Dave tightened his hold.

All in all, Gamzee was currently on drugs and just too messed up to be anything of a match for Dave. He made a pained 'oof!' as Dave shoved him to the ground, standing straight and swallowing the coppery blood in his mouth. "Get the fuck out of here," he grumbled. 

Sollux watched with wide eyes, looking totally dumbfounded. Dave had dominated that fight; Gamzee didn't even stand a chance (though if he was sober he likely would have won). As Dave returned and headed up the stairs, Sollux cast a glance to Gamzee and then followed Dave up, scurrying inside and grabbing his arm once the door was shut.

Dave looked over at him, "What?"

Sollux opened his mouth, quiet for a moment before, "That wath really hot."

"... Yeah?" Dave turned slightly towards him, clearly quelling a smirk. "You got a strength kink or something?"

"I didn't... think tho," Sollux mumbled, fingers curled around Dave's upper arm. He felt the muscle there with probing fingertips, swallowing thickly. 

Dave was looking entirely too smug, "I knew you wanted me, Captor. You're obvious as hell, like Pamela Anderson's tits. You aren't fooling anyone." 

Sollux's nose scrunched, and he released Dave's arm with an affronted sound. "Ugh. Never mind. You ruined it."

"What? Aw, no, come on!"

"Uh-uh, that completely turned me off."

"You're fucking with me right now."

"Nope. I'm going to bed."

"God damnit!"


	17. can't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.**
> 
> guys im gonna wrap this up soon  
> i will i really will  
> im sorry  
> this chapter took so long and its still super short i think that means something for sure  
> i love you all sooo much though thank you for sticking through with me it means a lot

'ii can't do iit anymore kk. ii ju2t can't. everythiing'2 two much, and pretendiing that ii can handle iit ju2t make2 iit harder when ii can't.  
plea2e don't worry. ii promii2e iit'll be better thii2 way.  
you know ii love you. alway2 have and alway2 wiill.  
bye honeybee.  
ii'm 2orry.

\-- 2ollux'

Tears streaking his cheeks, Sollux slowly set down the pen and paper, watching a few areas where the ink ran with his saline secretions dripping onto the paper. When he was sure the final product would still be legible, he pushed the note aside, focusing on the task at hand. He sat on the floor of his room, his knitted bumblebee plushie beside him, the fresh bottle of pills in front of him.

He gently ran his fingers over the soft surface of his bee, cracking a minuscule smile. He then turned to his pill bottle.

Pushing down the child safety lock, he opened the bottle, thinking bitterly about how it wasn't a child they should be protecting these pills from. 

He shook out the contents- it had to be enough to get the job done, it was a whole bottle. Staring down at the pills in his hand, he thought.

He thought for a long time about life, love, the things he would be leaving behind. Who would miss him.  
Who would be glad he's gone.

Blinded to sense, Sollux gave a soft sob, wiping his eyes and grasping the bottle of water he had on hand. After another moment of hesitation, he threw his head back, tossed the pills in and took a swig of water.

Soon enough everything went black.

\---

Sollux woke up gasping sobs, eyes wide and wet and cold prickles of terror all over his body. He felt detached from himself, so afraid and shocked and disoriented, he couldn't have possibly been rooted in reality. 

Apparently, he had been less than subtle with his choked cries and muffled screams, because Dave came stumbling in, disheveled and shadesless in his gray and black boxer-briefs. Perhaps under other circumstances, Sollux would notice his eyes, make himself notice, but he couldn't breathe. His world was fuzzy and disillusioned, everything was bright and dark and soft and loud at the same time as he panicked and panicked and just kept crying, kept screaming, rocking in Dave's arms until he passed out with the first rays of sunlight.

\---

"...... screaming 'sorry', over and over....."

"..... sounds like........ and he gets them sometimes, but.... .....that bad in a long time.... 

"..... to do...... so exhausted, been up since 3......"

Sollux drifted in and out of consciousness, his entire body like a ragdoll. He seriously felt like he was full of stuffing, especially his head- like a bunch of cotton balls cushioning his brain.

When he finally began to register things, he noted that he was sleeping in Dave's bed, and there were voices outside the door. Hushed voices, but voices, and he recognized them.

"Just try not to-" The door opened, and the world froze, and everything was silent. Dave was standing with his hand on the doorknob, and Karkat was lingering behind him, peering inside. 

Sollux wanted to kick and scream and throw a tantrum in that moment- he wanted to act like a kid and be immature because it was /not fair/, none of it was fair. 

But his body wouldn't cooperate, nothing would cooperate. He felt sick and he wished he didn't care about the way they were looking at him, didn't care about that stupid kicked puppy expression on Karkat's face as he took in the sight of Sollux sprawled on the bed, looking flushed and cold and dead and alive and weak and weak and /weak/. He was so fucking weak, he couldn't even raise his head. He vaguely remembered this was because he spent hours sobbing and thrashing and screaming.

"Hey," Dave was the first to speak, voice sounding quieter than normal. "Sleep well?"

Sollux just closed his eyes, a soft grunt escaping him in response. He hurt everywhere.

Karkat strode over to the side of the bed, wringing his hands and looking down at Sollux.  
"Fuck. You look awful."

Sollux wanted to snap a response, say something, but he couldn't. He just laid there and gave a vague growly sound that came out more like a groan, eyes opening to glare.

"Wow, Vantas, way to start things off on the right foot," Dave mumbled, but he was ignored.

"Sollux," Karkat started, unable to make eye contact, "I'm..."

"Don't," Sollux croaked, his voice pitifully withered. 

"...What?" 

Sollux looked up at the other male, eyes puffy and red. He didn't want to speak again. His throat was raw and red, and his words felt sharp as knives coming out.

"...I'm going to talk anyways, Sollux. Just.. fucking listen, please. I.. heard you had a nightmare. /That/ nightmare, wasn't it..?"

Sollux grit his teeth. Nodded weakly.

"Fuck," Karkat mumbled, pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes. "Fuck, Sollux, I just don't know what to do anymore. I don't know what to do."

Sollux didn't answer. He had nothing to say,

He didn't know either.

\---

"Medium, please."

Sollux kicked his feet back and forth idly, watching the waitress retreat from their table as Dave finished giving the drink orders. She had pretty eyes. They were blue, one of his favorite colors.

But today, he decided, red was going to take priority over blue. He turned back forward, giving Dave a small, crooked smile. 

"You seem a lot better today," Dave mused, leaning back in his seat. "Guess you should, though. You slept for at least ten hours."

Sollux opened his little notebook, writing on the first empty line, 'ii do feel a biit better. emotiionally and all.'

Dave took a moment to read the message, before giving a half-smile disguised as a smirk. "Well, good. Tired of you being a depressed sack of balls all day. You're too cool for that."

Sollux gave a soundless chuckle.  
'flattery wiill get you everywhere, 2triider.' 

"Will it now? Hmm. That top makes your muscles really /pop/."

'ii don't have any mu2cle2.'

"Yeah, I was basically bullshitting. It does look good on you, though."

'you are 2uch an a22. ii am recoveriing from an awful experiience, my voiice 2tiill 2hot, and you're hiittiing on me.'

"Guess I just can't help myself, can I?" Dave snickered and leaned over the table, beckoning Sollux closer. 

Sollux's eyebrows raised, but he leaned in nonetheless, thinking he had a pretty good idea where this was going.  
Sure enough, Dave's head tilted, leaning in so their lips were right there next to each other, almost touching-

"I deactivated your WoW account."

Sollux flew back, eyes wide, and scrambled for his notepad so he could scribble furiously on it.  
'WHAT??'

"Yeah, I thought you needed motivation to get out of the house more, so I deactivated it. Karkat told me the password you use for everything. Oh, and according to Facebook, you're in a relationship with Dave Strider's Glorious Ass."

Sollux gaped for a moment, and then resumed scribbling, 'OH MY FUCKIING GOD II'M GOIING TWO KIILL YOU.'

"No you won't," Dave smiled. "'cause I'm buying you a smoothie. And I rented Bee Movie for us to watch tonight. And bought popcorn and a bottle of honey for you to pour on it. Aaaaand," he tapped Sollux's nose, "because you love me."

Sollux's cheeks burned at- well, all of that, really. His scribbling was much calmer this time around.  
'ii do not. you're a butt.'

"If I'm a butt, you're a cunt."

'whoa, hey. we 2kiipped 2ome level2.'

Dave chuckled at that one, "Okay, lean in again. I mean for real this time."

Sollux's brow was furrowed, but he leaned in again, hoping Dave wasn't gonna pull anymore bullshit.

And he didn't, actually. Their lips connected and Dave even gave a soft exhale through his nose, as if he's been waiting for that for a long time.

And, when he thought about it, maybe Sollux had been waiting for it too.


End file.
